The Spirit of Courage
by emmydisney17
Summary: Ten year old fire spirit Cleo Alona has spent the last 200 years living in fear of her very existence and the mystery of her purpose being here in the first place. But when a guardian-turned-murderer named Alondra returns from imprisonment to kill children out of sheer hatred, only Cleo and her new friends, the Guardians can stop her while Cleo falls in love with Jamie Bennett.
1. Chapter 1

**The Spirit of Courage**

 **The Rebirth of Cleo Alona**

 **Cleo's POV**

Darkness... that was the first thing that came to mind before I woke up. It was dark, it was hot... and I was scared. But... everything changed when I saw the moon. It was so big and bright that it seemed to chase away the darkness that surrounded me.

* * *

 **Normal POV**

A full moon glowed within the quiet darkness of night. A long streak of light shone down on a pile of ash that sat within a small clearing. The pile of ash moved before a body slowly sat up, thus scattering the ash to the ground. The figure shook off the ash that was clinging to her hair before she slowly looked up as she looked up at the moon that was shining down on her. The figure was a young ten year old girl with orange/red hair that grew down to her shoulders, tan colored skin and honey brown eyes. The girl was wearing a brown dress with the skirt going down to her knees. The girl's feet were bare of any footwear and a bit of ash stubbornly clung to her body even as she tried to wipe it off after she stood up from the pile of ash. The girl then turned her gaze up towards the sky to look at the moon again in curiosity before a small smiled appeared on her face.

* * *

 **Cleo's POV**

Why was I there and what was I supposed to do... that I'll never know and a part of me wonders if I ever will.

* * *

 **Normal POV**

The girl slowly walked out of the pile of ashes and nearly fell down as her legs wobbled underneath her. The girl let out a giggle before she noticed something shining in a small pile of ash that was a few feet away from her. The girl slowly walked towards the pile of ash before bending down and began to dig though the pile until she found an old woven leather bracelet, tied to two straps of the leather bracelet were two red stones that shone brightly within the moon's light. The girl picked up the bracelet and examined it for a bit before she decided to place it right on her right wrist. It was a little too big on her wrist, but the girl didn't mind as she twisted the leather into a double loop so that it could fit better. Once it was on her, the girl felt a sudden warmth going through her body and before she knew it, a small glow appeared around her hands. The girl frowned for a moment before ember sparks flickered around her hands. The girl let out a gasp of surprise when she saw this before she unconsciously clenched her hands into fists and when she did the embers faded. The girl blinked before she relaxed her hands and when she did... nothing happened. The girl looked at her hands in confusion for a second before she heard a couple of grown up voices coming towards her. The girl quickly stood up onto her feet before she began to run towards the place where she heard the voices and saw two men walking towards her down the path. The girl smiled and she quickly started to run towards the two men.

"Thank goodness," said the little girl as she rushed up to the two adults. "I thought I was alone out there. I was wondering if you two could show me the way to a nearby town or a village. I think I'm lost and I..."

Suddenly the girl let out a shuttering gasp as the two men walked right through her...as if she were a ghost. The girl stood still for a moment as she held her chest in pain as she began to shake in shock and fear at what had just happened to her before she turned to watch the two men that had passed through her.

"W-what's going on?" voiced the little girl as she stared wide eyed at the two men that were walking away from her.

"Are you sure that this is the right way?" asked one of the men.

"Yes," replied the second man as he looked at his comrade in sadness "Elizabeth said that the fire had started just a few miles from here. It was a pretty big fire too by the way Elizabeth described it."

"I hope the family of that home is okay." said the first man.

"Whatever happened, i'm sure they've gotten out of the house in time." The second man said as they continued to walk down the path.

The girl didn't stick around to listen to the rest of the conversation as she turned southwards and began to run deeper into the forest. Once thought came into her head as she ran through the forest, away from the two men that had walked right through her. She needed to find a place far away from here so that she wouldn't have to encounter the same feeling of being walked through again.

* * *

 **Cleo's POV**

My Name is Cleo Alona, an immortal child that was left to fend for herself in a world where no one can see her. How do I know my name you ask? The moon told me and that was all he ever told me when he brought me into the world. It was a long...long time ago that he ever talked to me and I never made any contact with him in fear of knowing the answer to why I existed, nor have I have made any contact with spirits for fear of being attacked by them. For as long as I can remember, I've been on my own without any kind of contact, but my life was about to change when I found myself chosen to be something that i'm not sure I can be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Cleo meets Jamie**

It had been 200 long and lonely years since the day Cleo had been brought to life by the moon and during that time she spent most of her time alone, wandering and wondering what to do as she played by herself and the little fire figures she had been able to make to keep herself amused. She loved summer time when everything was warm and everyone had tons of fun as they cooled off. Her taste of clothing had also changed as she now wore a pink short sleeve shirt with a flower imprint on it, blue jean shorts that go up past her knees and tan sandals.

However she was still very shy and timid, never even once finding the courage to go and making a friend as easily as the other children she had seen during her 200 year long life seemed to be like a far away dream to her, but he had no idea at all that one day her life would change in an instant.

While she was playing by herself in the woods, she heard some children playing games and came closer to see what it was. It was a group of kids who were playing with their water balloons before her eyes fell upon the sight of a very handsome young boy, a boy who made Cleo's heart skip a beat and made her blush as she kept staring at the child with a love struck look on her face. Who was this boy? And why was she suddenly feeling brave enough to come closer to him so she could get a better look at his face?

"You are so lucky Jamie," said a girl to the boy "Tomorrow you get to go to Warsaw, Poland for summer vacation."

"Yep," Jamie said "From July the 14th to the 19th, it's going to be a blast."

Cleo could hardly focus on anything else as she continued to stare at Jamie and couldn't help but stand there with a smile on her face before his mother called him over, unaware that a little summer spirit was fallowing him all the way home.

* * *

Jamie was so tired he couldn't focus on anything after his mother had woken him up early and drove to the airport with his little sister Sophie at nine in the morning. He was so tired he barely registered his sister's playful gestures to his body, like her pulling his brown hair or poking him with her toy bunny.

"Why couldn't we go at an earlier time?" Jamie asked his mother "Like at noon? Why a flight at Nine in the morning?"

"Don't complain Jamie." His mother told him "It has always been a dream of mine to go and explore this great big world of ours and I will not have you whine the whole time just because you got up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Ugh..." Jamie responded "I miss our dog, it's too bad she couldn't come... will she be okay?"

"Don't worry honey," his mother replied sweetly "I'm sure she'll be fine. Now buckle up, it's almost time to take off."

Jamie sighed as he buckled up, unaware that one of his crayons from his coloring box that he was going to use to keep himself amused during the flight slipped out of the box and rolled across the floor... before it was picked up by Cleo, who stared at it and held it close in a loving way as if she was a groupie and it had been autographed by a superstar.

She snapped back into reality and placed the crayon back into the box before Jamie noticed as the plane took off and was soon soaring in the air with Cleo riding behind Jamie, who was so smitten she decided to fallow the boy all the way to Poland and watch him for as long as she wanted.

* * *

After a long flight, the plane finally landed in Poland and Jamie struggled to stay awake along with his mother and sister as they left the airport and took a taxi all the way to their hotel and got into their hotel room on the 20th floor.

They were so tired that the moment they went in they collapsed onto the beds and passed out, allowing Cleo to toy with their things and dig through their belongings to find something she could play with along with her fiery stick figure friends.

Cleo also found herself helping the family of three into bed with the help of her stick figures. How they were able to feel her only when they were asleep she had no idea but at least it was more comforting then them being awake and pass through her, and she really hated when that happened. Any who, she and her magical fiery helpers helped the family get settled properly into their beds with the mother in one whole bed and Jamie and Sophie sharing one bed together.

Before she left to explore the city by herself she leaned close to Jamie and said "I'll be back... I promise."

She puckered her lips and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek as the boy snored and she couldn't help but giggle before she left with her helpers fallowing her.

Hours later, Jamie had no idea how long he had been asleep but he did have a strange feeling that something strange happened while he was out like a light. He sat up as he looked at his mother, who was still snoring and Sophie who was sucking her thumb and snuggling her toy bunny in her arms. He touched his cheek, the same cheek that Cleo had kissed and had a feeling that something strange had happened.

'Did... did someone just... kiss me?' He asked himself in wonder.

"Bunny... hop hop hop..." Sophie muttered in her sleep.

Jamie just smiled before he slowly began to lay back down on the bed and fell back to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sadness and An Emergency**

Cleo walked through the streets of Poland with an amazed look upon her face as she looked at the buildings that she passed by. This was one of the few places that she hadn't been to when she was traveling around the world. Cleo quickly ran over to one of the buildings that was a toy store as she stood near the window as she looked at a doll that was sitting on a box among the rest of the toys.

The doll had blonde hair that was tied up into two pigtails and glass blue eyes. The doll was wearing a traditional Poland dress with very fine decoration.

Cleo stared at the doll in longing and was so distracted by it that she didn't notice a girl about her age come running up behind her before she let out a sharp intake of breath. Cleo quickly jumped to the side as she turned to look at the girl that had walked right through her with a shocked look upon her face. The girl's mother walked up to her child as the little girl pointed at the doll that was in the window. Cleo quickly ran away and hid in an alleyway as she leaned against the wall of the alley, while griping tightly at her chest. Cleo took in a few quick breaths before she began to break down into tears as she slid down the wall and curled up into a ball as she pressed her forehead against her knees as she let what just happened sink in. Cleo was reminded that no one was able to see her and that it was hopeless to get anyone to believe in her.

"Why was I even born," voiced Cleo in a depressed voice "Human beings can't see me and I'm too afraid to go near spirits that are just like me. I just don't feel like I belong... anywhere."

Cleo continued to stay in the alley as she cried her eyes out at the realization that even though she had developed a small crush on Jamie, she knew that there was just no way he will eve be able to see her.

* * *

On the other side of the world, South America, Columbia, a few kids were playing around in the streets as the sun began to set below the horizon. The parents began to call their children into the houses as night began to fall upon the city. One of the children, a young nine year old boy, was about to head home, but he was suddenly stopped in his tracks when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something shining in a dark alleyway. The boy was curious and soon heard a dark feminine voice calling out to him. The voice was soft, smooth and seductive, calling out to him in a hypnotic manor.

"Come little child, follow my voice and I will show you a better life where you will not have to worry about anything." the voice spoke.

The boy's eyes dulled as he was sucked into a trance. He began to walk towards the dark alleyway as all noises began to disappear from his senses. The boy soon disappeared into the dark alley and the street was soon silent with no trace of the boy anywhere.

* * *

In another part of the world, Jack Frost was flying around the northern part of the world as he gave off a chilly sprinkle of snow. It had been a year since the defeat of Pitch and Jack still had a thing or two to learn about being a Guardian, but other then that he was pretty happy with his life. Life with the other Guardians was pretty swell for him though he and Bunny still have a rival streak with each other, but it had dulled to brotherly friendship. He and Bunny shared some common ground with each other when it comes to the Bennett siblings. Bunny had a soft spot for Sophie and would once in a while visit his favorite believer to see if she was okay. Jack would also visit Jamie from time to time when the winter season comes around, but since it was summer time in Burgess, Jack couldn't really visit his first believer.

'I wonder how he's doing?' Jack thought as he sat in a tree that overlooked the land before him.

Suddenly, Jack was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard a familiar voice calling up to him.

"Oi, Jack!" shouted Bunny from the base of the tree.

Jack looked down and saw Bunny glaring up at him with a frown of displeasure on his face.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Easter Kangaroo himself," Jack said with a smirk on his face "What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

"First off, i'm not a kangaroo mate!" exclaimed Bunny angrily "Second, North wants us at the Pole ASAP."

Jack frowned at what Bunny had told him before he jumped down from the tree and glided down on the wind so that he could stand in front of Bunny.

"Why does North need us at the Pole?" Asked Jack with a serious look upon his face "Our next Guardian meeting isn't until next month."

"Something's come up." answered Bunny with a serious frown upon his face "And I have a feeling that whatever it is, it's not going to be good."

"Then we'd better get going," Jack said as he summoned the wind to pick him up as he hovered in front of Bunny before smirking at him "Race you to the Pole!"

Jack quickly took off like a shot, while Bunny shook his head and rolled his eyes in good humor.

"How many times must I tell you kid, never race a rabbit," muttered Bunny before he tapped his foot on the ground twice to open one of his magical tunnels before jumping down it as he headed towards the North Pole.


	4. Chapter 4

**She has Returned**

Jack and Bunny traveled as far and fast as they could before they finally arrived at North's workshop high in the mountains and as far as they could tell, everything seemed perfectly normal as both Jack and Bunny skid to a halt at the doors before Jack said "Made it, Oh, by the way... I win!"

"You did not, I won you bloody cheat!" Bunny said as they entered the workshop.

"Oh come on you big-Holy cow! What happened!?" Jack exclaimed in shock.

Bunny turned to look inside and his jaw dropped at what he saw. The whole workshop was a mess! Broken toys and furniture were sprawled across the floor, claw marks ran from the floors to the walls and as they looked on, they realized that the whole place was completely deserted with no sign of life anywhere.

"Whoa... what happened?" Bunny asked as the pair looked around the damaged workshop.

"Bunny! Jack! Is that you?! Help me out of this!" shouted a familiar voice.

Bunny and Jack fallowed the sound and found North himself, suspended in the air and wrapped in neon ribbons as if he was a fly trapped in a spider web. He wasn't alone as the pair quickly noticed that the Sandman, or Sandy to his friends, was trying to get the man untangled but was having trouble untangling his own feet from the ribbons.

"What happened North?" Jack asked "What happened to your place?"

"Ugh, it all happened so fast." North said "I was minding my own business when suddenly I heard the elves and yetis screaming. I tried to figure out what it was but someone knocked me out from behind and the next thing I knew, I woke up to find myself hung like an ordainment and suffering the biggest head ache I've ever head in my life. I don't know what happened to my elves and yetis, it's like they vanished without a trace and I've been stuck here ever since with Sandy trying to help me get down."

"So I guess you weren't the one who summoned us?" Jack asked

"Sandy did it for me." North said "Now can you help me down before I... toss my cookies."

"Oh boy, hang on!" Jack said as he and Bunny went to work to get North down before Jack pulled a ribbon tied to a support beam and the whole thing fell apart with North landing right on top of Bunny with a thud.

Jack laughed as hard as he could while Sandy shot him a look before he and the still laughing Jack helped North up and Jack said "Are you okay?"

"I am glad to finally touch the ground." North said "Thanks for breaking my fall Bunny."

"I'll get you for this Jack." Bunny moaned in pain before North helped him back up on his feet.

"Oh my back." Bunny grumbled as he tried to stretch his spine back into place.

Jack looked around before he noticed someone was missing "Hey, have you guys noticed that Tooth's not here?"

"That is strange, she has never been late to a meeting before." North said "Something must be wrong back at her palace. We have to go there at once! To the Sleigh!"

They raced to where the sleigh was but skid to a halt when North let out a scream "AAAGGGHHH! The Guardian Stone is gone! It's been stolen!"

The guardians were shocked as they stared at the pedestal that the stone used to rest upon and in it's place was a beheaded nutcracker "Oh great, now if a new guardian is being chosen we'll have no blinking clue as to who that bloke is or what they look like!"

"And look at the globe!" Jack exclaimed as he pointed to the globe, which was covered in claw marks and ripped fabric but was still standing and working but the guardians were now clueless as to what was going on with the lights since they couldn't see them under all the fabric and the claw marks.

"I don't believe it," North exclaimed "First my workshop, then my workers, now the stone and globe?! What other damage could those hooligans have done?!"

He soon found out when he went to get his sleigh and realized that it was missing along with all of his reindeer, every last one of them. North let out a horrified scream and shouted "NOT MY SLEIGH!"

"Whew, what a relief." Bunny said before North turned to him and the bunny quickly said "Oh too bad, what a shame."

"Now that does it, anyone who takes my sleigh is officially on the naughty list!" North said "A lump of coal won't be enough of a punishment by the time I get my hands on them!"

"Guess we're taking a different path." Jack said as he snatched one of North's Snow Globe and waved it in his hand "If you know what I mean... unless you wanna go down those tunnels again."

"Snow globe it is!" North said.

Once they arrived in Tooth's palace, they looked all over for Tooth and found her rocking herself on the floor, looking so pale and frightened, like she had seen a ghost before she turned to the others and said "She... she... she's come back!"

"She who?" Jack asked "Your mom?"

"No, no, someone I wish I could forget forever..." Tooth said "Someone we banished around 1950 and imprisoned somewhere in Florida when she began to... kill children..."

"Oh no, you don't mean..." North began

"Yes." Tooth said with a grim look upon her face "She came back... she escaped her prison and came back, just like she swore she would on the day we imprisoned her."

"Hold up, i'm really confused, who are you talking about?" Jack asked

Tooth looked up at Jack and shook as a shiver ran down her spine before she said "It's... my former partner who used to collect teeth with me... a former Guardian turned pure evil... a murderous traitor... and her name... is... Alondra."


	5. Chapter 5

**Tooth's Breakdown**

Jack was shocked to hear that a Guardian had turned evil and had been killing children in the process.

"How exactly did she turn... dark?" Jack asked with a frown as he stared hard at his Guardian family.

The other Guardians looked at each other with unsure looks upon their faces before Bunny let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck before he looked down at Tooth.

"Jack needs to know about what happened Tooth," Bunny said with a sad frown upon his face "No matter how painful it is for you to remember."

Tooth hesitated for a moment before she took in a deep breath before she flew up from the floor and hovered in front of Jack as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"Alondra... I don't know what happened to her, but a long time ago we were collecting teeth in Spain," spoke Tooth in a sad voice as she looked up at Jack with sadness in her eyes. "We were doing our rounds within the city and we split up to collect the teeth faster, but then... something happened between me and Alondra."

Jack stared at Tooth as he waited patiently for the Queen Fairy to tell him what had just happened between her and Alondra, but Tooth kept quiet as she looked down at the ground with a sad look upon her face.

"Tooth?" Jack asked as he stared at the Queen fairy expectantly.

Tooth only shook her head as she curled into herself as if what she was holding back was hurting her more than what she can't tell Jack. North came up to Tooth and placed a comforting hand on the Queen Fairy's shoulder. Bunny and Sandy came up as they looked at Tooth with sad eyes before Bunny looked at Jack with the winter spirit looking back at him with confusion in his eyes. Bunny gestured with his head for the winter spirit to follow him a few fee away from the trio before Jack looked up at the Guardian of Hope in frustration.

"What exactly happened between Alondra and Tooth?" Jack asked.

"That's something me, Sandy and North are trying to figure out ourselves." Spoke Bunny as he ran his paw/hand down his face "But whatever happened between those two had really shaken Tooth up. It took all three of us to comfort her as best we could before she went back to her peppy self. Once in a while we try to get Tooth to tell us what happened, but every time we try and mention it she would quickly change the subject. All we know is that Alondra started going on a killing spree as she struck down any child that catches her attention and in the process steal their souls."

At the mention of Alondra stealing kids' souls a cold realization ran down Jack's spine before he grabbed Bunny by the arms as fear entered his eyes.

"Bunny... if what your saying is true, then does that mean Jamie and Sophie are..." Jack didn't dare finish his sentence.

The thought of Alondra killing Jamie made Jack fear that he would lose his first believer, the only human child to have first seen him before any of the others did. Bunny looked down at Jack as he saw the fear coursing though the boy's eyes before he gently placed his paws/hands on Jack's shoulders as he looked the winter spirit in the eyes with a determined look upon his face.

"Jack, nothing is going to happen to Sophie and Jamie," Bunny said as Jack looked up at him with an unsure look upon his face "As long as we're still breathing, Alondra will not lay a single hand on them."

Jack wasn't sure if he should believe Bunny, but soon took in a deep breath before nodding his head in agreement as Bunny let his paws drop down from his shoulders. Bunny nodded back with a reassuring smile on his face before the two of them traveled back to the trio that were off to the side. Sandy was comforting Tooth while she sat down on the ground with her shoulders shaking as she cried out tears of sorrow and pain that she had kept locked up for years. North was pacing back and forth with a look that said that he was thinking. Jack soon spoke as he brought up the question that had been going through everyone's minds.

"So, where do you think Alondra is now?" Asked the winter spirit

"She could be anywhere Jack," answered North with a sigh as he began to pace back and forth in front of the group "And with the globe damaged as it is, there's no way of knowing which child is Alondra's target."

"Not to mention that the Guardian stone is gone." added Bunny as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Even through I don't think we need another Guardian to add to our group, it's still a valuable item that the Man in the Moon gave to us."

"The Guardian stone is gone?!" Tooth exclaimed as she turned to look at Bunny with eyes wide in disbelief.

"Afraid so Mate." Replied Bunny with a sad nod.

"But... if that's true than Alondra must have been the one to have taken it." Tooth said.

Not to mention she stole my yetis and elves," North added with an enraged look on his face "She will pay for what she had done to my work shop and my sleigh!"

While everyone was talking, Sandy noticed the moon hanging above their heads as it began to shine its light down on them. Sandy quickly turned to look at the others and saw that they were all standing together as they began to discuss a plan of how to find Alondra.

"Maybe we can split up and search for her." Suggested Jack.

"No, that will take too long mate," Bunny said with a shake of his head "Alondra never stays in one place for too long so it's hard to pinpoint her. It was hard to track her down the last time after she turned dark."

"There's got to be something we can do." spoke Tooth

"I know you're upset about this Tooth, but-" North was interrupted when he suddenly felt the edge of his coat being tugged and turned to look down to see Sandy looking up at him with a frustrated look upon his face "Yes, Sandy what is it?"

Sandy created a crescent moon above his head before pointing towards the sky. The Guardians quickly turned their gaze upwards and saw the moon shining down on them.

"Ah, Man in the moon!" exclaimed North.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alondra and Cleo**

Jack looked up at the moon that hung above him and the other Guardian's heads with a light frown upon his face. Over the year that he had spent with the Guardians, he was still unsure about forgiving the moon for abandoning him so long ago. He was kind of surprised that the Man in the Moon had shown himself now.

"Manny, Alondra has returned." North said as he spoke to the moon above him and the other Guardians. "We need to know where she is so that we can stop her before she harms any of the children."

The moon responded with a long stream of the moon's light shone towards one of the towers of Tooth's Palace. Jack frowned in confusion as he watched the moonbeams touch the tower for a moment before he looked around at the others for a moment.

"Um... does anyone have any idea what he's trying to tell us?" Jack asked curiously

"That's the tower where I keep all of the children's teeth in Europe." spoke Tooth with a frown "Do you think there might be something there that Manny might give us a hint on where Alondra is?"

"Best way to know is to find out mate," Bunny said with a shrug of his shoulders.

With that said, the Guardians made their way towards the tower that Manny's light had pointed too. Tooth and Jack flew up to the tower while Sandy conjured up his golden sand to create a large cloud to lift both Bunny and North up towards the tower. Once they got to the tower of Europe they saw a bit of Manny's moonbeam shining on one of the pillars that had the teeth of the children, which Tooth's fairies had collected from Poland. Jack's eyes widened in fear as realization came upon his face as he remembered that Jamie and his family were spending their summer vacation in Poland.

'Oh no' thought Jack.

"So... she's in Poland." mused North as he stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"We have to get there and fast!" exclaimed Jack fearfully.

The others looked at Jack as they were surprised about the young Guardian's outburst, but Bunny quickly realized why as he also remembered Sophie and her family going to Poland for their summer vacation. The thought of Alondra getting her hands on Sophie made Bunny feel his heart drop into his stomach. Bunny quickly turned to look at the others who were looking at him for answers.

"Jack's right," Bunny said firmly "Jamie and Sophie are in Poland with their mother during their summer vacation. If Alondra gets to them then..."

Tooth let out a gasp at this information, while North and Sandy had firm looks of determination on their faces.

"Then there's no time to waste," said North as he pulled out one of his snow globes "We must get to Poland as soon as possible."

* * *

Back in Poland, Cleo was walking around the streets of the city once again, while making sure that she didn't collide with any mortal that will pass through her. Cleo had slowly calmed down from her episode of being walked through a few moments ago, even through she was still a little shaken up. Cleo hummed a small tune as she strolled down the side walk, but then she came to a halt when she noticed a mother and her two children. The mother was chatting with another woman while an older sister and her little brother were looking through the window of a candy store. Cleo smiled as she stood beside a mail box so that people wouldn't walk through her again, while she stared at the sight of the two siblings talking and pointed out the candies together.

'It must be nice to have a family' thought Cleo with a sad smile.

Suddenly, the boy seemed to turn away from the window as he looked towards a dark alleyway in curiosity before a glazed look came over his features. Cleo frowned when she noticed this and watched the little boy beginning to walk across the street. Cleo felt her instincts kicking in as they screamed that danger was near. Cleo quickly ran towards one of the houses that stood near the alley that the boy was walking towards. Once she got to the house, Cleo began to climb up one of the storm pipes as she scurried up it like a squirrel climbing a tree. Cleo had years of practice when it came to climbing trees or rock cliffs to hide from spirits that wanted to hurt her. Cleo soon reached the roof of the house and pulled herself up before she cautiously crawled across it. Cleo then slowly made her way towards the edge of the roof and looked down into the alley that the boy was slowly walking towards and once she did, Cleo's eyes went wide when she saw what, or who, was in the alley.

Standing below Cleo was a tall woman that looked to be five feet and ten inches tall. The woman had long black hair that grew down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a long black sleeved dress with a long skirt that covered her feet. Around the woman's shoulders were two large black feathered wings. In the woman's right hand was a long wooden staff that was taller than her and on top of the staff was a medium sized black crystal sphere that was glowing in a purple aura.

The woman was going a beckoning motion with her left hand as she spoke in a dark sweet voice that sent an uncomfortable shiver down Cleo's spine.

"Come little boy," whispered the woman to the boy "Let me take you to a place where you are promised all of what you want without sharing with your spoiled big sister."

Cleo quickly looked towards the entrance of the alley and saw the boy slowly walking across the street towards the alley. Cleo didn't know who this woman is, but she knew that something about this woman was a danger and that she needed to act quickly to help the human child. Cleo quickly summoned a ball of fire in her right hand and threw it at the woman. The fire ball landed down in front of the woman as she flinched back in shock and surprise. the light on the black crystal went out and the boy quickly stopped in his tracks and shook his head to clear it as his sister, who had quickly noticed his absents, quickly ran to her brother and dragged him back to where their mother was. Cleo let out a sigh of relief when she saw the boy was safe, but her relief was short lived when the woman unfolded her wing and flew up to the roof that Cleo was on. Cleo let out a fearful gasp as the woman revealed her face.

The woman had long eyelashes, while on the lid of her eyes was black eyeshadow and on each cheek was black markings. The woman's dark purple eyes glared down at Cleo, who gazed up at her in fear.

"How dare you interrupted my hunting!" snarled the woman angrily "Now you shall pay the price!"

Cleo quickly retaliate by throwing a fireball at the woman before she swiftly made a run for it across the rooftops. The woman quickly summoned a shied to protect herself from the fireball before she snuffed it out. The woman then flew after Cleo at full speed as Cleo jumped from roof to roof to escape. The woman fallowed Cleo for a while before she summoned a black ball of energy with her left hand before she threw it at Cleo. The black sphere flew passed Cleo before it collided with the roof that Cleo was jumping to next and exploded. The explosion sent Cleo flying back through the air as she fell towards the cement streets below. Cleo landed on a few crates that protected her from the fall, but in the process injured her shoulder. The woman landed on the ground with a smirk as she watch Cleo struggling to get up.

Now you're mine." said the woman as she advanced towards Cleo, who watched her helplessly coming towards her in fear.

But the woman only got within two feet of Cleo when something flew towards the woman, who quickly jumped back to avoid being hit by the incoming projectile, which turned out to be a snowball.

"Leave that girl alone, Alondra!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Alondra's Magic Tricks and Tooth's Confession**

Jack didn't know who this little spirit girl is or what this mean fairy lady was doing, but he knew one thing, he wasn't going to let this mean former guardian anywhere near the girl.

"Jack Frost." Alondra hissed "We meet at last, did you finally decide to get some big boy pants and come face me all by yourself?"

"Very funny." Jack said "Nice to see your time imprisoned hasn't done anything to your sense of humor between us guardians."

"When did you become a guardian?" Alondra asked "Last I checked you were too busy playing with your snow flakes and trying to nip the noses of the children you made play in the snow you created to even care about responsibility."

"Long story short I figured out that I have been a guardian all along, the Guardian of Fun and I don't like it when mean old cronies like you pick on innocent children." Jack told her "Or even kill them!"

"Guardian of Fun? What a laugh!" Alondra said with a wicked grin on her face "When I was a guardian I had a more respected title, I was the guardian of-"

"ALONDRA!"

Alondra turned quickly to see North, Bunny, Sandy and Tooth charging behind her with North out in front as he held out his swords and charged with a mighty battle cry. Alondra just grinned before she said "Think fast!"

Before the Guardians knew what hit them, Alondra send forth such a wave of dark power that it knocked all of them to the ground with Alondra laughing at them "On come on, don't tell me your down and out already, i'm just getting warmed up here!"

Tooth was the first to recover as she charged angrily at her former friend, before she did something truly despicable; she took aim and blasted Tooth's right wing, injuring it as the Fairy Queen cried out in pain before she plummeted to the ground again, but was caught by North who got knocked off his own feet again by the fairy's own fall into his arms and hit the wall with a bang.

"Are you okay Tooth?" Jack asked as he, Bunny and Sandy rushed up to their fallen comrades.

"No, look at my wing!" Tooth exclaimed as she showed the guardians how bad her wing had been damaged.

"North, what are we going to do?!" Bunny exclaimed as he and Sandy shook North in vain for help "North?! Say something!"

North, knocked into a daze due to catching Tooth and being hit by such powerful dark magic, was too busy mumbling to himself as he said in a dazed tone of voice "Mommy, I don't wanna brush my teeth yet, I want some more cookies."

"Well, that's something." Jack said with a shrug.

"Oh man, he's out cold!" Bunny exclaimed "Now what do we do?"

Before anyone could respond, another blast from Alondra send them flying. Cleo hid in the shadows as she watched the guardians take one beating after another from the evil guardian until Bunny managed to dodge an attack and struck her in the arm, making her drop her staff for a brief moment before she landed to pick it up and said "Why don't you just give up? After all, back when I was a guardian, I was the Guardian of Desire!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I desire to put you back in your miserable prison where you belong you... ugh. Oh my back." Bunny's wise crack was interrupted when he felt his back go out due to being beaten so many times and he stretched to pop it back into place as Alondra teased "Oh what? Are you too old to face me now?"

"That's enough Alondra!" Tooth shouted angrily "Leave my friends alone right now or I'm going to make you wish you never became a spirit in the first place!"

"Sounds like the same thing you said back when I took care of those two believers for you." Alondra said "One boy and one girl who you loved so much you spoiled rotten... and then they tried to take our wings away, remember Tooth?"

"Don't you dare bring that memory back up!" Tooth warned in a hint of both anger and fear in her voice.

"But it's my favorite memory Toothy," Alondra said "It's the day that I realized that I could be more then just a slave to that moon man and the day you played a very important roles in, as well as what happened to those two believers you loved with all your heart suddenly try to slice your wings clean off!"

Tooth lost all focus on the now as her memory flashed back to the night those two little believers, a boy and a girl, had pounced on her and tried to cut her and Alondra's wings with scissors and how angry she was for being betrayed by those two little believers.

"Yes... back in Spain all those years ago..." Tooth explained, losing focus on everything and everyone all around her as that horrible memory repeated itself in her head "I used to be close with my two believers... twins... a boy named Max and a girl named Belle... those two were my dearest believers and close friends... I gave them great treasures and they gave me... a wonderful friendship... b-but then... they tried to... they wanted to fly so badly... that they tried to cut off me and Alondra's wings... I tried to reason with them but... but they became selfish and cruel and unreasonable! We managed to escape and... and I was so mad, so angry, so full of betrayal and rage that I... I..."

"You ordered me to kill those two children." Alondra finished with a smile on her face "And I did... I killed them, with your permission Tooth. And that was when I realized children were better off dead then they were alive, because children can only be innocent for so long... until they become spoiled rotten brats who deserve to die, never to see the light of day ever again."

Jack turned to Tooth with a shocked frown on his face as he asked "Is... is this true Tooth?"

Tooth nodded then burst out crying as she covered her face with her hands and continued sobbing as the other guardians stood staring at her, at a loss of what to do or to say as Alondra said "Oh don't be such a baby, those brats were asking for it. You said so yourself. And then again you know what it's like to be the betrayer who regrets ever turning her in to the other Guardians before I could do anything to defend myself."

Tooth just cried harder in response.

Jack looked at her in sadness before he turned to face Alondra with a snare and said "What are you going to do with the kids now that you're finally free?"

"Simple Frosty." Alondra said "I'm going to absorb the powers of the Guardian Stone so that I'll become a stronger being then any of you magical babysitters combined! And I also plan to turn children into living statues that I can feed off of for all eternity! I Already am so powerful now but you know what they say, you can't have too much of a good thing!"

"Well, your ego's pretty big, I can tell you that." Jack said.

Alondra snarled as she tightened her grip on her staff and said "Why you! Just for that I'm going to finish off all you guardians right here, right now! Say good bye Guardians!"

Before she got the chance to destroy the guardians with one powerful blow, Cleo, who had been gawking the whole time, snap out of her trance as she got back on her feet, summoned a fireball the size of a softball and threw it at Alondra from behind. The ball sized fireball struck the evil fairy right in the back, injuring the dark spirit as she screamed in pain. The pain was so unbearable that she landed on her feet with a thud while she franticly patted her pack to put out the flame before it got too big.

Once she put herself out, Alondra turned her head sharply to look at Cleo with fire in her eyes and sneered "You've just made the biggest mistake of your life you worthless firebug!" And with that she threw a dark energy ball at Cleo, who barely dodged it as it blasted the ground with a bang, frightening the spirit girl. Alondra was about to throw another energy ball at Cleo but Bunny, Tooth, Sandy, Jack and North saw their chance to attack as North shouted "Charge!"

Alondra snarled in anger but also in pain at what Cleo's fireball did to her back, there was no way she was going to get the drop on them now, she would have to heal herself completely before she could try again so she gave her staff a strong swish and became engulfed in a flash of bright light before it died down, when it did the fairy was gone and not a trace of her was left except from that of the brief fight between her and the guardians.

Now that Alondra was gone, the Guardians turned their attention on Cleo, who was staring at them in fear now that the bad fairy was no longer around, now her fear was on these strangers who came out of no where and were now staring at her and it made her worry that they might be more dangerous then the bad fairy.

"Uh, hi there... Are you with anyone or are you just by yourself?" Jack asked as he walked up towards the little girl first. However he had only gotten a few feet within range when Cleo suddenly let out a scared scream and quickly, yet weakly, threw a small fireball at the snow spirit, causing him to duck as he exclaimed "Woah! Watch were your throwing those things!"

"Stay away from me!" Cleo yelled at them "Stay away!"

"Now now, calm down little child!" North said, trying to calm down the terrified child as she trembled in fear "We're not here to hurt you! You are safe."

"I don't think she believes us." Tooth said as she looked at how badly Cleo trembled in fear at the spirits in front of her "And we can't help her if she's too scared of us."

"Sandy, I don't suppose you could do something about this, could you?" Bunny asked

Sandy nodded before he formed a little bouncing ball with his dream sand and threw it at Cleo as if inviting her to play with it. Without even thinking, Cleo caught the glowing sand ball before it exploded and she fell to the ground, deep in sleep as golden dream sand dolls danced around her head.

North was the first to walk up to her and picked up the sleeping child as he said "Okay, now that she's fast asleep, we can all figure out what to do with her."

"We can't just leave her here," Tooth said "What if Alondra comes back and tries to harm her? We have to go somewhere safe and sound from all harm so we can recover and hopefully think of a better plan to catch her."

"How about Bunny's Warren?" Jack asked "Remember when Sophie came to the warren? She practically felt right at home there! I'm sure that this fire spirit will do the same... provided she doesn't burn anything by accident."

"And if she does, you can put it out." Bunny said "After all, your the snow spirit and it was also your idea."

Before Jack could comment, North quickly put the sleeping Cleo in Bunny's arms as he said "Alright then, here you go Bunny!"

"Wait the-why are you giving me this little... fire bug to hold?" Bunny asked

"In case I end up tossing my cookies like I almost did last time." North said

"This is about that 'buckle up' joke isn't it?" Bunny asked

"Guys, come on!" Tooth said "We have to leave now before anything else happens to us."

"We'll settle this later." Bunny told North before he tapped his foot and one of his magical tunnels appeared below them, sucking everyone in and Bunny, who stayed behind to make sure he had a firm grip on the child, dove right in, heading straight for his magical home while carrying the sleeping Cleo in his arms. He just hoped Jack was right and that she might liked his Easter themed home... otherwise he was going to get Jack if she ended up burning any of his eggs.


	8. Chapter 8

**Regrouping at The Warren**

It wasn't long before the group came to the Warren, with North making an ungraceful landing within the progress. Bunny came out last with Cleo still held in his arms before he looked around the group that stood before him.

"Everyone accounted for?" Asked Bunny.

"Yep," replied Jack as he looked around at their group.

"Give me a moment," groaned North as he laid on his back "I need to catch my bearings before I answer."

After a few moments of letting North organize himself, the group followed Bunny through the warren as he lead them to where they would talk about what happened. They soon came to an oak door that was built into the side of a large hill. Jack stared at the door for a moment before smirking.

"You live under a hill?" joked Jack

"Oh, belt up," muttered Bunny as he shifted Cleo into his left arm before grabbing the handle of the door "Besides, you should never judge a book by it's cover mate."

Once he opened the door, the group saw a long flight of stairs going downwards into the ground. The group was surprised for a moment, but one by one they soon walked down the stairs while Bunny came in last to shut the door behind him. The group walked down the stairs for what seemed like an hour until they came to a large room that looked to be a living room. There were a few chairs and sofas that were colored either brown or green. There was a large bookshelf sitting on the other side of the room and in the next room over was a kitchen that had a wooden oak table, cupboards and a cooking stove. There was a tunnel on the right side of the living room. Jack looked around in amazement before looking over at Bunny, who had a smug look upon his face.

"Okay, okay, I'll admit it, I was wrong," Jack said as he held his hands up in surrender "But that still doesn't change the fact-"

"That I live under a hill," finished Bunny with a roll of his eyes "Yeah, yeah. You lot make yourselves comfortable while I take the fire bug to one of the guest rooms to rest."

With that aside, Bunny walked into the tunnel that led to the bedrooms of his den, while everyone else sat down in one of the chairs or sofas as they waited for Bunny to return. It didn't take long for Bunny to find one of the guest rooms within the tunnel. He once again shifted Cleo to hold in his left arm again before opening the guest room door. In the room was a large bed that was in a circle and dipped a little in the middle. There were green quilts and a few pillows that had a tinge of gold in their fabric. Bunny walked across the room before lifting the covers of the bed up and placing the young girl into the bed. Once he did, Bunny rearranged the covers to cover Cleo and placed a pillow underneath the girl's head. When that was done, the Pooka made to pull away when he suddenly felt a light grip on his right paw/hand. Bunny looked down in surprise to see that Cleo was gently holding onto his paw/hand with a frown of discomfort on her face. Bunny looked down at Cleo for a moment before kneeling down near the edge of the bed and gently began to stroke the little girl's head with his left paw/hand.

"Everything is okay, Bluey," Bunny whispered softly to the girl "No one is going to hurt you, I promise."

The frown on Cleo's face lessened as she slowly loosened her grip on Bunny's paw/hand. Bunny smiled sadly at the young spirit as he quietly pulled his hand back and stood up. He then quietly walked out of the room before closing the door behind him. Bunny let out a sigh before he walked down the tunnel back to where the other's where waiting for him. Once he got there the group began to talk about what was to be done with Alondra.

"So... what's the plan?" Jack asked curiously.

"That's something what we need to think about," North muttered as he stood up from the chair and began to pace around the living room. "We need to figure out where Alondra and the Guardian Stone is. Not to mention that we need to find out where Alondra is keeping my elves and yetis."

"Easier said then done, Mate." Bunny said in a grumbling voice "We haven't even a clue as to where she was hiding."

"Yes... that is the problem," sighed North in exasperation as he stopped in his pacing.

Sandy nodded his head in agreement as the little man took on a thoughtful look upon his face. Tooth, who was sitting in one of the chairs, was quiet as she stared at her hands that she had cupped in her lap with a depressed look on her face. Jack noticed this, along with the others as they all turned their attention to the Queen Fairy.

"Are you alright Tooth?" asked North in concern.

North's only answer from Tooth was her shaking her head 'no'. The other guardians looked at one another at a loss of what to do before Bunny spoke up.

"I'd better prepare some herbs and bandages for both Tooth and our guest." the Guardian of Hope said.

With that said, Bunny went to get his medical supplies that he kept in one of the cupboards within the kitchen.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Lair and The Tunnels**

In a deep and dark cavern that no mortal could travel to, a bright flash of light flash throughout the cavern before Alondra appeared within the middle of the cavern.

Alondra's cavern was a dark and terrifying place with stalactites and stalagmites littered all over the dark fairy's home. But it wasn't the only thing that was littering the cavern. All around the cavern were statues of children that ranged from six to twelve years old. They were all the victims of the dark fairy's evil spells and all that remained of them once she got what she wanted from the poor children.

"That little brat!" growled Alondra as she slowly got up onto her feet and began to make her way towards the middle of the room "I can't believe I let some small fry spirit get the better of me when I had my back towards her. She will pay dearly for that once I get my hands on her."

Alondra continued to limp forward before coming to the middle of her cavern home before she stood before a stone pedestal that was as black as onyx with carvings that had strange marking etched into the surface. Sitting on the flat surface of the pedestal was the Guardian Stone, which was glowing a light blue that was barely seen within the darkness of the cavern. Alondra stared down at the Guardian Stone with a hungry look upon her face as she brought her left hand forward and hovered it over the stone.

"Once I have my strength back, I'll get my revenge on not only the Guardians, but also the little whelp as well," hissed Alondra as she began to absorb the power of the Guardian Stone.

* * *

Cleo didn't know how long she slept, but when she awoke it was with a gasp as the young girl quickly sat up in shock and fear. Cleo let out a whimper when she felt the pain in her injured shoulder and quickly placed her hand on it with a hiss, but she quickly felt something else beneath her shirt. Cleo blinked in surprise when she noticed this before she slowly lifted up half her shirt to see what was underneath. What she saw astonished her; underneath her shirt was a large white bandage that was wrapped once or twice around her chest before it curved upwards where the bandaged was wrapped around her injured shoulder and arm.

'W-What? Who tapped me up?' thought Cleo to herself before she began to look around the room that she was in 'And where on Earth am I?'

Slowly, while trying not to aggravate her injury, Cleo pulled down her shirt and carefully climbed out of the bed that she had been sleeping in. Cleo sat on the edge of the bed as she tried to gather her thoughts on what had just happened to her.

'Okay' started Cleo as she calmed her racing thoughts to think 'I was in Poland after I followed Jamie and his family on the plane. Then I decided to wonder around the city for a while to see what it was like, only to encounter a dark spirit that was trying to lead a boy away from his family. I stopped her by throwing one of my fireballs to distract her, but in doing so I winded up making her mad and getting chased by her in the progress. She had me cornered when the Guardians...'

That was when Cleo's thoughts trailed off as she quickly remembered what had happened when the Guardians were surrounding her and the little golden man of the group threw a golden ball of sand at her.

'Ugh!' exclaimed Cleo inside her head as she slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand 'I can't believe I fell for that trick. They knocked me out and brought me here for... I don't know what! I can't stay here, they'll do something terrible to me if I do'

With that thought in mind, Cleo quickly stood from the edge of the bed and quickly made her way towards the door. Quietly opening it, Cleo looked out into the hallway that her door was connected to and looked around.

'Okay, which way do I go?' thought Cleo as she quickly looked left and right down the long tunnel before she made up her mind on where she should go. 'Right, I'll go right."

With that, Cleo quickly ran down the tunnel in the direction she chose, not knowing that she was going deeper into the burrow of Bunny's home.

* * *

Back with the Guardians, Bunny had just finished fixing up Tooth's wing as he wrapped the bandage around the injury.

"There, that should do it," Bunny said once he was finished "Now, you lay off flying for a while until it heals properly."

Tooth began to object before North interrupted her.

"Bunny is right Tooth, you need to take it easy for a while until your wing is fully healed.

Jack and Sandy nodded their heads in agreement to their older companions, saying that Tooth shouldn't push herself. Tooth frowned, but didn't say anything else as she turned her gaze down on the ground. Bunny smiled in satisfaction before he began to clean up his medical supplies before he made his way to the kitchen. Once he placed them back in the cupboard that Bunny kept them in, he went back to the group.

"I'm going to go check on the fire bug," announced Bunny to his friends "Maybe she's calmed down enough after having a good nap from Sandy's dreamsand."

"We'll accompany you," North said as he and the others stood up from their seats.

"I'm not so sure that's..." Bunny started but North cut him off.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed the larger man cheerfully "I'm sure she will be comfortable around us now after she realized that we saved her from Alondra."

With that, North began to walk down the tunnel that will lead them to the guest bedroom. Tooth fallowed after North in hopes of seeing the girl and to hopefully get a glimpse of her teeth. Jack and Sandy stopped to stand beside Bunny, who let out a frustrating sigh as he ran his paw/hand across his face.

"I swear, North does this to irritate me." Grumbled Bunny in a low voice "Having all of us gather in one room where that Fire Bug is staying in is not going to be pretty."

"I know what you mean," Jack voiced with a small frown on his face "That girl nearly roasted us when we tried to get close to her and something tells me that she's not going to fall for Sandy's dreamsand ball trick twice."

Sandy nodded his head as he began to create shapes with his dreamsand of the girl being scared of them and winded up throwing a fireball at them in the progress. Bunny grimaced at the thought of the girl throwing a fireball at them and accidently burning his burrow to the ground.

"We'd better go after North and Tooth before they burst into the guest room and scare the Sheila half to death." Bunny said before he and his two companions quickly ran after North and Tooth.

The group soon came to the room that would have held Cleo inside but when they got there they saw that the door to the guest room was open and it was empty.

"Uh... is this right room?" North asked with a questioning frown on his face.

"She must've woken up," Bunny said with an annoyed look on his face "The little Fire Bug is probably wondering around with in the deeper parts of the burrow."

"We have to look for her!" exclaimed Tooth in a panicked voice "She could get lost or-"

"Calm down Tooth, she could've gone far," Bunny said as he tried to calm the Queen Fairy down. "We'll split up and look around the place, but just make sure you don't corner the ankle biter when you find her."

The group nodded before they quickly took off down the tunnel in hopes of finding Cleo.


	10. Chapter 10

**Cleo and the Guardians**

Cleo ran down the long tunnel as fast as she could as she tried to find a way out of this strange place. Cleo could hear the every echoing step she took in the tunnel, but it was slightly muted by the moss that she ran upon. After a minute of running, Cleo came to a fork in the tunnel as she stood looking at three tunnels that branched in different directions.

"Which way, which way?" Cleo voiced as she looked at each of the tunnels in a panic.

After looking at each of them, the young spirit quickly chose the tunnel on her left and ran down it. After a few minutes of running, Cleo came to a large wooden door that had strange markings on it. Cleo didn't have time to see what the markings were for as she was in a big hurry to get out of this strange tunnel and back on the surface. Cleo first tried to push the large wooden door open, but when that didn't work she grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. The door easily opened and Cleo quickly rushed into the room, while forgetting to close the door behind her. Once in the room, the young fire spirit stopped in her tracks as she gazed at the room that she had entered.

The room was large with millions upon millions of books sitting on high shelves. Cleo looked around the room to see a large sofa and a few chairs standing in the middle of the large library. The young fire spirit would have continued to stare, but she was in a hurry to escape her captors and out of their underground hideout. She was about to turn around and run back the way she came, but then she heard the sound of feet coming down the hallway that she had ran down a while ago. Cleo panicked before she shot towards the sofa and dive behind it to hide. She tried to steady her breathing as Cleo kept quiet, hoping that those strangers wouldn't find her.

* * *

Earlier...

The Guardians walked down the tunnel that Cleo had taken before coming to the fork in the road. This had some of the group members stumped as they looked at each tunnel in confusion.

"Which way did she go?" Asked Tooth as she looked at the three tunnels with a frown.

Bunny frowned as a thoughtful look came over his face before he looked at his friends.

"We're going to need to split up if we want to find her," Said the Guardian of Hope "North, you and Tooth take the tunnel on the right. Sandy, you take the middle tunnel, Jack, you'll come with me to check in the left tunnel. If anyone finds her, remember not to back her in a corner or else she'll lash out with her fireballs again. We'll meet back in the living room in about an hour."

The group nodded and took off down the tunnels that they were assigned to look through. As Jack and Bunny took the left tunnel the winter spirit frowned in thought before he asked the rabbit a question.

"So... why exactly am I stuck with you in this search mission?" Jack asked suspiciously

"Someone's got to keep an eye on you and I'm not so sure that the others will pay attention if you decided to go wandering off on your own once they took their eyes off of you." answered Bunny with a sideways glance at the winter spirit.

Jack held a hand up to his chest with a mock of disbelief on his face.

"Are you saying that you still don't trust me?" questioned Jack?

"No," replied Bunny flatly "And besides, you don't know my underground home very well like the others do so it's easy to get lost down here. You're also the only one who might be able to help calm the fire bug down with those snowflakes of yours."

"That is if she doesn't melt them first," muttered Jack.

Bunny made a grumble of agreement as they continued to walk down the tunnel in silence. They soon came to the end where they saw the wooden door that led into the library was open.

"Looks like the girl was definitely in here," voiced Bunny as he walked into the room cautiously.

Jack followed behind him before his mouth dropped open in shock and disbelief.

"Whoa! This place is huge!" exclaimed Jack when he saw all of the books in the room.

Bunny turned to glared at Jack as he raised a single finger up to his lips and shushed him to keep quiet.

"The last thing we need is to scare her," whispered Bunny.

Cleo, who was still hiding behind the sofa, heard what Bunny had said before she slowly crawled over to the right corner of her hiding spot to see the two guardians standing near the entrance of the library.

'Darn it,' thought Cleo as she frowned 'How am I going to sneak past them?'

"So where do you think she's hiding?" asked Jack curiously

"Who knows," said Bunny as he crossed his arms over his chest "This library is pretty big so she could be hiding anywhere."

Cleo quietly listened to what they were saying before she suddenly started to feel her nose itching.

'Oh no,' thought Cleo as she began to feel a sneeze coming on.

Cleo tried to hold in her sneeze while Bunny and Jack continue to talk between each other, but it was a futile effort. Cleo quickly placed her hands over her nose and mouth to muffle the sound as she let out a quiet sneeze. The young fire spirit froze in fear as she waited for Bunny and Jack to run in her direction. Luckily, they didn't as they continued to talk between each other.

"We'll take a look around down the line of bookshelves and see if she's hiding around any of the corners," said Bunny as he pointed to his left.

"Alright," said Jack with a nod.

Cleo let out a quiet sigh of relief, thinking that she was safe. If only she had noticed how Bunny's right ear had twitched in her direction when she had sneezed then she would have known that the guardian had heard her. As the guardians disappeared from out of her sight, Cleo slowly stood up and quickly made a mad dash towards the door, but she only got halfway there before she was caught by a pair of strong furry arms.

"Got ya!" exclaimed Bunny as he held Cleo tightly yet firmly within his arms.

Cleo began to struggle as she tried to escape from her captor's embrace, but no matter how hard she struggled she just couldn't get free.

"Let me go!" Shouted Cleo desperately as tears began to form in her eyes "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Hey, calm down," said Bunny as he continued to hold the struggling girl "You're not in any trouble, but if you keep thrashing around you're going to hurt yourself again."

No sooner had Bunny mentioned this that the pain within Cleo's injured shoulder suddenly flared up again. Cleo let out a sharp yelp and shot her hand up to hold her injured shoulder. She soon went still within Bunny's arms with her muscles still tense at what he might do to her next, while her body shook with fear. Bunny could feel her shaking within his arms before letting out a sad sigh. He gently shifted Cleo in his arms before crouching down on the floor so that the little girl could sit comfortably in his lap. Jack soon came up to them as he knelt down to get eye level with Cleo, while the little girl stared at the two guardians in fear and confusion.

"It's okay," Jack said gently to the child "We're not going to hurt you or do anything bad to you. We just wanted to help you after what that witch did to you."

Cleo didn't reply as she only continued to look between the two guardians. Bunny frowned thoughtfully before he spoke in a soft voice like he had used with Sophie when she first came to his Warren.

"Would it make you feel a little less uncomfortable if we told you our names?" asked Bunny.

Cleo hesitated at first before she slowly nodded her head at the guardian of hope.

"Alright then," Bunny said with a smile "My name's E. Aster Bunnymund, but everyone calls me Bunny for short." He then turned to look at Jack "And this guy right here is Jack Frost, who happens to be the annoying little brother of the team."

Jack retaliated by sticking his tongue out at Bunny. Cleo blinked in surprise at the boy's action before Jack spoke to her.

"Can you tell us your name?" He asked with a friendly smile.

Cleo once again hesitated before she spoke in a soft voice "M-My name is Cleo Alona."

"Can you tell us why you were in Poland?" asked Bunny curiously.

Cleo was about to answer when North suddenly barged in along with Tooth and Sandy.

"There you are!" shouted North.

The sudden shout made Cleo flinch before she quickly turned in Bunny's arms and buried her face into the fur of the guardian's chest. Bunny was a little surprised by this action for a second before he glared at North, along with Jack who had a look of displeasure on his face. North blinked in surprise as he looked at Bunny and Jack in confusion.

Bunny let out a sigh before he looked down at the young spirit that was shivering in his arms again.

"It's alright," whispered Bunny as he tried to calm the child down again "There's nothing to be afraid of."

The only response he got was Cleo clinging tightly to him as she continued to bury her face in the ruff of his chest.

'This is going to take a while' thought Bunny and Jack together as they stared at the young spirit that is now in their care.


	11. Chapter 11

**A Close Call**

Cleo wasn't the only one who was feeling uncomfortable about being among strangers. Back in Poland Jamie felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb the whole time he was exploring the city with his mother and little sister. Don't get him wrong, he loved going on adventures with his mother to many cool places and each one was unforgettable as the last, it's just that ever since his father died due to an accident long ago, trips like this weren't as adventurous as they were anymore, sure his mother did her best but his dad had always found more ways to look at outer countries and even common things back home into something completely unexpected and exciting.

Jamie remembered how his father died as fondly as he remembered the guardians; it was when his mother was four months pregnant with Sophie and they were visiting a ranch to take a look at all the cool stuff they had. Jamie went over to a horse and his dad helped him up to the saddle so he could ride it. The horse looked harmless enough but when Jamie started to act up and demand the horse to go faster the horse went wild and tore through the gate and all over the farm with Jamie screaming and clinging for life on the horse's back. His father tried to calm the creature but the horse kicked him right in the head and right into a pole where his father fell limp and didn't get up.

By the time Jamie finally got off with help from the farm hands, he watched his father get taken away by an ambulance and the next day he was pronounced dead. Jamie was devastated and it felt like it was his fault since his father told him to ride a different horse but he didn't listen. The horse that killed his father was shot dead even thought Jamie begged the farmer not to but the farmer didn't want anything to do with an animal that was responsible for a person's death, and so the family had to end their country trip early with nothing but broken hearts.

Jamie felt like his world was over but then he remembered his unborn baby sister and felt like he had to take over his father's duties of raising her and become the best big brother she could ever have. Ever since then he has done his best to make sure Sophie was safe and sound from all harm, even if he was starting to act more like a normal big brother and less like a 'Daddy Jr.' as his mother called him once, and they had never gone on much traveling trips ever since.

Until now that is.

While his mother was busy shopping Jamie and Sophie were looking at the beautiful bejeweled eggs that sat upon their displays with big smiles on their faces as Jamie turned to his little sister and said "Look at those beautiful eggs Sophie! Aren't they amazing?"

"Easter eggs! Easter Eggs!" Sophie exclaimed happily.

Sophie reached out to grab one before a hand smacked her little hand away, making the two year old yelp before she started to cry in pain. Jamie quickly pulled his sister into a hug as he looked up at the woman who had slapped his sister's hand and said "Hey, she just wanted to take a look at the eggs!"

"These eggs are for my wealthy customers, not for filthy urchins like you!" the woman said

"Oh forget it, come on Sophie, it's not worth it." Jamie said as he led his sister away even thought she was still looking at the eggs.

"Eggs?" Sophie asked

"Forget about those eyes, I bet they don't have any cool surprises in them anyway." Jamie said.

Sophie pouted but stayed by her big brother, rubbing her slapped hand sadly as she sniffled. Jamie noticed and stopped for a brief moment before giving her hand a gentle kiss "Everything is alright now Sis, you're going to be okay."

Sophie sniffled but smiled at her big brother before suddenly her facial expression changed into a zoned out look you'd get when you first get out of bed. Jamie didn't think this was unusual, he just thought that his little sister could use a nap so he led her to a bench but the moment he tried to get her settled Sophie suddenly pushed him and began to quickly walk right out of the building.

"Sophie? Sophie! Come back!" Jamie exclaimed as he fallowed his sister "Mom's not going to like this!"

Jamie fallowed Sophie as she ducked into an alleyway and he skid to a halt as what he saw in the alley next made him stop dead in his tracks. Standing there was a fairy just like the Tooth Fairy! Only she looked like something that came out of a gothic horror film and in her arms were beautiful glowing eggs that Sophie was looking at with a slight smile on her face.

"Don't these lovely Easter eggs look divine, my sweet little believer?" The fairy asked in a sweet, hypnotizing voice "I had my friend the Easter Bunny make them especially for you."

Jamie quickly ducked behind a trash can and watched as Sophie reached out for the eggs but the fairy took a few steps back as she said "If you want more lovely eggs sweetie, come and fallow me to a place where no grown up can ever keep you from getting what you want."

Jamie knew he had to do something, this fairy was trying to take Sophie away! Thinking quickly he grabbed the trash can lid and shouted "Leave my sister alone!"

Jamie threw the lid at the fairy but she was faster, she grabbed the lid and threw it back, forcing Jamie to duck. Jamie picked himself up in time before the fairy could grab him and made a mad dash towards his little sister.

"Snap out of it Sophie! We have to get out of here!" Jamie exclaimed.

"Bunny?" Sophie asked

"What's wrong boy?" Alondra asked as she focused her attention on the two children "Are you afraid of how you may lose your sister, just like you lost your father?"

Jamie froze as he looked at the menacing fairy as he asked "How... how did you know about my dad?"

"I was a guardian myself sweetie," Alondra said "The Guardian of Desires, and I can since your desire as easily as your sister's desire for Easter Eggs. You've been yearning for those good old days with your father again... Remember how you used to go on amazing adventures with him on the weekends or how he helped you with your old sticker collection by figuring out which you like the most to keep in your journal or not?"

Jamie had no idea how she knew that but he could fill his whole head feel as if everything was fading away and all he could focus on was the fairy and her hypnotic melodic voice as she continued "And remember how your father used to get you moving by playing your special wake up song when you were little or how much you would fall asleep with him every time he watched TV? You can have that back you know, just trust me and I'll make sure that you and your father are back together again... together forever."

Jamie knew he had to do something or he would become a mindless zombie under her control just like Sophie! He looked around to find something, anything he could use to fend her off. Then he spotted a stray basket ball and ran over to it, then with a mighty throw he tossed the ball straight at the fairy when she began to focus on Sophie, hitting her in the shoulder and knocking her into the wall, where her wing caught against a broken electric wire and...

ZAP!

Screaming in pain from the powerful electric shock, Alondra quickly fled the scene and vanished from the children's sight. The moment she left, Jamie could feel his mind returning back to normal as he sighed in relief. Sophie shook her head as she looked around to see herself in the alley with no memory of what had happened as she turned to her big brother and asked "Momma?"

"Come on Sophie," Jamie said as he took his sister by the hand "Let's get out of here before mom notices we're gone... and before that nasty fairy comes back."

Luckily the children managed to return to their mother's side without her noticing a thing. Still Jamie was disturbed that they had encountered a guardian that tried to take them away. Why would there be a fairy who wanted to take away children? Jamie knew he had to do something and that was to look her up... but what if he cannot find any information about her? Hopefully Jack Frost and the other guardians would figure something out.

'I bet they've already got a great plan in the works as I speak.' Jamie said to himself, keeping himself reassured as he continued on the trip with his family with no other incidents like the fairy unexpectedly showing up to ruin the whole day.


	12. Chapter 12

**A Talk with the Guardians**

Back in Bunny's warren, the Guardians once again stood in the living room as they looked at the little girl that was sitting in the chair in front of them. Cleo was looking down at her lap, but once in a while she would glance up at the guardians that stood around her as they gazed down at her patiently. After a while, Jack was the first one to speak after a moment to break the ice towards their little guest.

"So... you care to tell us why you were in Poland?" Asked Jack curiously.

Cleo felt her face flush before she looked down at her lap before she answered Jack's question.

"W-well... um, I was following this boy to Poland." replied Cleo in a soft voice.

Some of the Guardians weren't able to hear her voice, but Bunny's sharp hearing caught the words that Cleo had said.

"And why, exactly, were you following this boy?" Asked Bunny as he crossed his arms over his chest, while raising his right eyebrow at the girl.

"Um...well, I kind of took an... interest in him." Cleo said as she pressed her two main fingers together.

"Interested in him?" repeated Tooth as she looked at Sandy, the both of them exchanging a curious look between each other.

"Why would a spirit, a none-guardian one to be exact, be interested in a human boy?" questioned North suspiciously "You must have a reason for it, yes?"

The blush on Cleo's cheeks grew even redder and Jack noticed this before he figured out why Cleo was interested in the boy she was following.

"You have a crush on him," Jack said as a smirk appeared on his face.

Cleo stiffened in shock, fear and surprise, while the other guardians looked at Jack in surprise at what he had just said. Cleo quickly looked up to face the winter spirit, her face becoming even redder then before.

"T-t-that's not true!" exclaimed Cleo with a stutter.

"Don't try to deny," jack said as he continued to smirk at Cleo "Your face tells it all."

Cleo let out a groan as she moved her hands up to cover her face. Cleo cringed a little when Tooth let out a squeal, while North let out a booming laugh. Sandy mutely chuckled as his shoulders bobbed up and down in his action. Bunny rolled his eyes in amusement when Jack figured out what was so obvious before he looked down at Cleo again.

"So... who exactly do you have a crush on Fire-Bug?" asked Bunny as he crossed his arms over his chest again "And where does the bloke come from?"

Cleo parted her fingers on her left hand to look up at Bunny with one eye before covering it again and muttered something behind her hands. Despite his expert hearing, Bunny wasn't able to hear what Cleo said. Bunny knelt down and gently grabbed Cleo's wrists before he pulled them away from the girl's face.

"I didn't catch that, what was it you said?" Bunny asked with a frown.

Cleo, her face still blushing, was hesitant for a moment before sighing in defeat and repeated what she said.

"He's from Burgess," Cleo said.

Bunny arched an eyebrow at what she had said before he looked over at Jack with a questioning look upon his features. Jack had a thoughtful look as he tried to think about who Cleo had a crush on.

"He's from Burgess, huh?" mused Jack as he thought things over before realization came over his face and he quickly turned to look at Cleo again "Are you telling us that you have a crush on Jamie Bennett?!"

Cleo blinked in surprise when Jack mentioned the name of the boy that she had crush on.

"Y-you know him?" asked Cleo curiously.

"Yeah, he's my first believer." replied Jack with a smile "He's also one of the biggest believers that the Guardians and I ever have."

"And let's not forget his little sister Sophie." Added Bunny with a smile of his own.

"Ohhh... you have a crush on one of our believers!" exclaimed Tooth excitedly "That is just too adorable!"

"I can't wait to tell Jamie about this," Jack said with a snicker "He's going to be-"

"No!" shouted Cleo fearfully "Please don't tell him about me following him!"

A question marked appeared above Sandy's head as the dream weaver gave Cleo a confused look.

"And why not?" North asked with a smirk "It would be interesting to see how Jamie will react when he finds out that he has an admirer following him around."

Cleo blushed as she looked down at the ground, while placing her hands in her lap once again.

"Because... even if you did tell him about me... Jamie won't be able to..." Cleo trailed off as a sad look came over her face.

Understanding soon came over both Jack and Bunny's faces when they realized what Cleo was trying to tell them.

"He doesn't believe in you, does he?" Bunny asked in a gentle voice.

"Cleo shook her head sadly as she continued to look down at the ground.

"Nobody does," Cleo said in a small voice "It's been like that ever since I was born and I've been on my own for as long as I can remember."

Jack sadly stared at Cleo as he remembered that he had been alone for three hundred years before he met the Big Four and became part of their team, so he knew what it felt like to be alone. The four guardians frowned as they all looked over at one another in sadness and pity. This was another child that they had failed to help, yet they had never heard of Cleo before. Bunny was the first one to break the ice as he let out a sigh and stood up.

"Well... I think we'd better check up on Jamie and Sophie in Poland," said Bunny with a serious look upon his face. "I want to make sure those ankle-bitters are okay."

"That would be a good idea." North said with a nod of approval.

"Then let's go," spoke Tooth.

"Not you, Tooth." said Bunny sternly "As I said before, you need to stay off that wing until it's completely healed so that means you have to stay behind."

Tooth pouted when she was reminded of her broken wing before she began to argue.

"But you'll need me," she said "I know Alondra better then anyone so..."

"Tooth," spoke North with a firm look on his face "We will need you at your best when you recover."

Cleo soon spoke after a moment as she became curious about Alondra.

"Who is t his Alondra, anyway?" asked Cleo.

Tooth was hesitant at first for she didn't know how Cleo would react to hearing the story of her past, but soon relented and began to tell her tale once again.


	13. Chapter 13

**Returning to Burgess**

After Tooth told Cleo the whole story, Bunny and Jack quickly took their leave and traveled all the way back to Poland using the bunny's traveling tunnels. Although they were fast and awesome to slide around in, Jack was beginning to miss riding North's sleigh but he had a feeling that Bunny wasn't feeling the same due to his dislike of being in the sleigh. Still it was going to be nice to see Jack and Sophie's faces again, he couldn't wait to catch up on his believer and his adventures during his vacation in Poland.

Once they arrived in the hotel, they snuck quietly inside and walked over to where Sophie and Jamie were sleeping in their bed, or at least trying but from the way they were tossing and turning they weren't comfortable or even close to relaxing at all.

"Jamie? Sophie?" Jack asked quietly.

Jamie heard the familiar voice and quickly shot right back up as he looked at the guardians and smiled "Jack, Bunny!" he made sure to whisper as their mother was still asleep and shook Sophie as he said "The guardians are here."

Sophie shot up as she looked up and saw the bunny she knew and loved. She giggled as she bounced on the bed and jumped into his outstretched arms.

"Good to see you too little ankle bitter," Bunny said with a smile "I've been meaning to visit you sooner but you know how it is with Easter, always have to make sure everything gets done in time before starting work on next year's Easter."

"Guys, do you two know of any other fairies over then the tooth fairy?" Jamie asked

Jack already had a bad feeling coming from what the boy said and he said "Uh, why?"

"Me and Sophie encountered a fairy but she... she was trying to lure me and Sophie away from our mother, she hypnotized Sophie and tried to take her away." Jamie explained with a frown.

Bunny looked down at Sophie as he pulled her closer and she whimpered at the bad memory her big brother brought up. Bunny was just as horrified, he almost lost his believer to that traitor! Jack was just as mortified since he almost lost his believer to her as well as Jack said "Are you two okay? Did she hurt you?!"

"No, I managed to scare her away by getting her shocked with electricity before I was completely hypnotized." Jamie said "And that was hours ago."

Bunny and Jack sighed in relief. It was a good thing Jamie was able to rescue both himself and his sister from Alondra, otherwise the pair would never have forgiven themselves for not coming to their believers' rescue. Then something struck Bunny as he thought over what Jamie said.

"Wait a minute... you directly saw her?" He asked

"Yeah," Jamie said "I've never heard of her before, I didn't even believe that such a fairy like her could actually exist and I've looked it up on everything, my books, the internet, myth websites and more but not one came close to a dark fairy who kidnaps kids. The only time I've ever heard of her was when I saw her in the alleyway."

A look of disbelief and shock came over Bunny as Sophie slipped from his arms and he said "That... that's impossible."

"Impossible? How?" Jack asked

"The only time believers can see us is when they believe in us." Bunny said "Not once have I heard of children being able to see spirits before they believe in them. Never! Remember how Jamie couldn't see you until he began to believe in you?"

Jack nodded as he said "So somehow Alondra has managed to... reverse this whole believing thing?"

"No, that's impossible!" Bunny exclaimed in horror "Unless..."

RING! RING! RING!

A telephone ringing snapped both him and Jack out of their conversation and they quickly parted from the children as their mother shot up and picked up the phone as she said "What? What is it? Who's calling me at one in the morning?"

The voice on the other end chattered away as the mother's face changed form grouchiness to a look of sheer horror as she said "Wait?! He what?! When?! He's been hospitalized and might... Oh no! Don't worry, I'll be right there!"

Jamie and Sophie's mother jolted from her bed as she hung up her cell phone and turned to her children, Jack and Bunny giving her a wide berth as she exclaimed "Jamie, Sophie! Pack your bags, we're canceling our vacation! and heading straight home, right now!"

"What?! Why?" Jamie asked "We just got here! Why do we have to leave so early?"

The woman took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself down and she said "That... on the other end of the phone was Grandma... she just called to tell me that Grandpa had gotten into a pretty bad accident involving the stairs at their home."

Jamie and Sophie gasped as Jamie said "Oh no! Is he okay?!"

"He's being hospitalized right now and... I didn't get much detail out of Grandma due to her having hey fever of all times, but he might have hip surgery and... we have to go back to Burgess to take care of him, right now!"

"But it's one in the morning!" Jamie exclaimed.

"I know but I don't care, he's my father and I have to make sure he's all right at any coast." Mrs. Bennett told her children "Jamie, get our suitcases out from the closet and start packing. Sophie, gather all your toys and our souvenirs from Poland. I'll go and get our plain tickets for the next flight leaving for America, the sooner we get everything up and ready the sooner we can head back home for Grandpa's sake."

Without skipping a beat, Jamie and Sophie went to work packing up everything while Mrs. Bennett quickly left the hotel room to get the plain tickets. Jack and Bunny looked at each other as they watched the children rush around to pack everything and Jack shrugged.

"Well, at least Jamie and Sophie won't be in Alondra's grasp anymore, should she come back and try to take them again." Jack said.

"Yeah, but I think we should at least stick with them for a little while longer just to be on the safe side." Bunny said with a frown.

* * *

Soon the Bennett family was loaded inside the airplane and hung on as it took off into the sky and straight to America. Due to how tired they were due to waking up so late and using all their energy packing and catching the soonest flight back to their home country, Jamie, Sophie and their mother all fell asleep while Jack and Bunny kept watch on them and made sure nothing bad happened to their believers.

Well, Jack was, Bunny was close to getting air sickness.

"Couldn't they have booked a boat instead?" Bunny asked as he tried to relax himself by breathing through a paper bag "Who doesn't love a nice boat ride nowadays?"

"And risk getting seasick or swimming all the way back if it springs a leak? No way." Jack said with a wave of his hands "Just don't look out the window so much and you'll be fine."

"I'll be a lot more fine once we hit solid terra firma." Bunny said with a grumble.

After a moment of silence, Jack spoke up saying "Say pal... I was just thinking, One of us should head back to tell the others that Jamie and Sophie are back home early while the other one stays behind to watch them in case Alondra tries to take them again."

"Right," Bunny said "I'll stay here and you go alert the others."

"Oh no, i'm staying with them and you alert the others." Jack said.

"No I am." Bunny said as he stood up.

"Okay, how about we settle this fair and square?" Jack said "Let's play Guess the Number."

Before Bunny could ask Jack quickly asked a question "Quick, pick a number between one and thirty!"

"Gah, Uh... twenty eight!" Bunny exclaimed in panic

"The answer is two, I win!" Jack exclaimed happily.

"Wait, no fair! You cheated!" Bunny said with a frown.

"Alright we'll play a different game to decide who does what." Jack said with his hands in the air in defense "How about 'Rock Paper Scissors' then?"

"You got it." Bunny said with a grin the turned into a frown as he said "How do we play it?"

"Oy vey." Jack sighed as he slapped his own face in annoyance.

This was going to be a very, _very_ long trip back home.


	14. Chapter 14

**Back At the Warren**

Back in Bunny's Warren, Cleo was sitting silently on the couch within the living room as she watched the three remaining Guardians talk between each other. Mostly Tooth and North, because for Sandy, as Cleo found out, was mute but would once in a while summon a sand picture above his head to show them what he was trying to say to his companions. Right now they were all arguing about Tooth's health.

"You are not going anywhere until you are healed Tooth." North said firmly in his deep and loud voice "I know that you want to go out to find Alondra, we all do, but you are in no condition to do so."

"But, North, what if another child is in danger?" questioned Tooth in a frantic voice "What if Alondra got another one and turned them into her collection?"

The argument continued between the two guardians as Sandy began to feel irritated that he was being left out of the conversation. He soon turned his attention on Cleo, who continued to watch in silence before he floated over to her. Cleo tensed for a moment when the golden man came towards her, but she quickly calmed herself down by taking a couple of deep breathes. Sandy came to stand before her and waved his hand in a gently, nurturing manor with a calm and friendly smile on his face.

"H-Hello," voiced Cleo with a shy smile "I'm guessing... you're the Sandman, right?"

Sandy nodded with a check mark appearing over his head.

"I'm also guessing that you don't really talk, do you." Cleo said with a raised eyebrow.

Sandy shook his head 'no' with a frown upon his face. Cleo's smile grew slightly larger. Cleo began to like the little golden man for he was quiet and had a gentle aura around him. Cleo never really liked loud noises and when someone accidently raised their voices it would startle her into running somewhere to hide. Cleo also didn't like someone walking up or running up towards her too fast then she would lash out at the spirit that came up to her before running away from them as far as she could.

Cleo watched as Sandy began to form pictures above his head and she would try to guess what he was trying to tell her. Sometimes she would get it right, but other times she would be off the mark on her guessing yet she was having fun with the Sandman. Cleo was soon so focused on the little man before her that she didn't even noticed North and Tooth walking towards them. The two guardians had stopped their arguing when they noticed Sandy and Cleo interacting with each other. Tooth thought it was adorable and North found it quite amusing. They wanted to see if they could interact with Cleo as well to hopefully make her more comfortable around them. They only got about two feet when Cleo quickly noticed them and turned her eyes on the two guardians as a nervous look appeared on her face. Tooth noticed this and quickly rose up her hands in a passive form of showing that she wasn't going to harm Cleo.

"It's alright sweetie, we're not going to get any closer to you unless you want us to." Tooth reassured the young fire spirit with a friendly smile.

Cleo nervously smiled back as she slowly nodded her head at the Tooth Fairy before she began to speak in a soft voice.

"Um... I don't think we've been introduced to each other," Cleo said gently "My name is Cleo Alona."

Tooth smiled before she introduced herself to the little girl before her "My name is Toothiana, also known as the Tooth Fairy, but all my friends call me Tooth for short."

"And I am Nicolas St. North!" boomed the large man in a prideful voice "North for short, I am also known as Santa Clause."

Cleo flinched at North's loud voice, but forced herself to keep calm as she gave the larger man a nervous smile.

"N-Nice to meet you." voiced Cleo

"And you've already met Sandy," Tooth said as she gestured down to the golden man that stood in front of Cleo "His full name is Sanderson Mansnoozie, also known as the Sandman."

Cleo nodded as she gave Sandy a friendly smile with him returning the gesture by creating a bollard hat and lifting it to tip it in greeting. Cleo let out a giggle at the action before she turned to look at Tooth again.

"So... i'm a little curious as to what you all exactly do," Cleo said "I mean, I've heard about you all from whispering spirits that I pass by yet what exacrlt are you guardians from?"

North let out a booming laugh that made Cleo flinch again, but she remained sitting in the chair.

"Young Cleo, we are the Guardians of Childhood!" Exclaimed North in a prideful voice "Each of us protects a center that a child contains in their young life. For example, I am the Guardian of Wonder that I would bring once a year when Christmas comes around."

Cleo held a thoughtful look upon her face as she processed that information for a second before looking down at Sandy curiously.

"What do you do Mr. Sandman?" asked Cleo.

Sandy smiled before be began to form sand pictures above his head again. Cleo looked at the images close to see a child sleeping in a bed before a sand picture appeared over the child's head to form a butterfly and a star. Cleo thought about this image for a moment before she took a guess at what the picture is.

"You... give good dreams to children?" guessed Cleo.

Sandy nodded his head excitedly as a giant checkmark appeared over his head. Cleo let out a soft chuckle before she turned to look at Tooth.

"What about you Mrs. Tooth?" asked Cleo.

"Me?" said Tooth with a smile "I'm the Guardian of Memories. I collect teeth of children and watch over them. When someone needs to remember something important within their lives my fairies and I help them."

Cleo stared at Tooth in amazement when she heard that she was the keeper of memories.

"So you pretty much collect all of the teeth from children who lost them?" asked Cleo.

"Yes," Tooth replied with a nod of her face "I think I probably have your memories if I remember right."

Cleo blinked in surprise at what Tooth had said before frowning in confusion.

"My memories?" asked Cleo uncertainly "What do you mean Mrs. Tooth?"

"Well, the other guardians and I have all been someone once in our lifetime as children." Tooth explained as a soft frown appeared on her face "But there was one acceptation among us who didn't have any memories of his past life before he became a guardian like us."

"Yes, Jack didn't even remember who he was when he was brought into the world by the Man in the Moon." North said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"The... Man in the Moon?" echoed Cleo in confusion.

"Man in the moon is one of the Guardians who has chosen each of us for our centers." explained North with a serious look upon his face "He had chosen Jack Frost to become a guardian like us, but in the beginning Jack had no memories of who he once was. For that, Jack had been wandering the world for 300 years."

Cleo became quiet as she processed what North had said as a sad look appeared on her face.

"I guess... it's something that he and I have in common." Cleo said sadly.

"What do you mean?" asked Tooth as she stared down at the young fire spirit curiously.

"I mean... I don't really remember anything about my past." Cleo replied gently as she looked up at Tooth "All I remember is walking up in a pile of ashes with the moon shining down on me and a voice telling me my name."

The three guardians eyes widened ins hock as they all turned to look at each other for a second before they looked back at Cleo as Tooth asked in a serious voice "How long ago was that?"

Cleo thought over the question as she tried to remember how long she had been alone.

"Um... two hundred years... I think." answered Cleo.

North let out a sigh as he stroked his long beard thoughtfully.

"Yet another young spirit who doesn't remember who she is." North said.

Cleo gently nodded her head 'yes' to answer Tooth's question.

'Poor thing' thought Tooth as she held a hand up to her chest.

"I've always thought that... I was just Cleo Alona, but... after hearing what you just said... i'm starting to question if that's who I really am or if it's just a fake name given to me by the moon himself."

The room was quiet for a moment as the guardians and Cleo thought about what they had learned from each other before North quickly broke the silence as he spoke up in a booming voice.

"Well then, there is only one way of finding out for sure!" he exclaimed fiercely "You will need to visit Tooth's home to look at your memories!"

Cleo, startled by North's sudden voice, quickly looked up at the man with a startled look on her face but slowly calmed herself down before she said "W-What?"

"Of course!" Tooth said happily "If we take her to my home then we can find out who she is and what her life was like!"

"Exactly!" North shouted.

Cleo, feeling uneasy, began to speak again "Um... what are you all talking a-" before she was interrupted by North.

"Details later," he told her as he quickly started to walk up to Cleo "Let us go to Tooth's palace and see if we can find your memories!"

But as North began to advance towards Cleo, the young fire spirit began to feel her fight or flight instincts take over and that was when she struck out at North with a fireball, causing him to hit the deck to avoid being turned into a fireball.

* * *

Meanwhile, outside of Bunny's home, Bunny had just gotten back from Burgess with a sour look on his face. He had just lost the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to Jack and he was not in a good mood about it.

"That's the last time I play that game with Frostbite," muttered Bunny angrily as he stomped towards his home "That show pony better keep an eye on those kids or else I'll give him such a-"

Bunny's words were cut short when his nose caught the smell of something burning and he quickly ran to where the smell was coming from. He soon came upon the sight of the front door of his burrow, now open wise with smoke billowing out from the inside.

"Ugh, I've only been gone for about an hour and already trouble is stirring up." Bunny grumbled as he ducked under the smoke and walked into the burrow towards the living room where he saw North, Tooth and Sandy putting out the fire that was burning one of the chairs within the room by pouring as much water as they can onto it until it stopped.

The three guardians quickly turned around to see the Easter Bunny glaring at them with his arms crossed over his chest and tapping his foot on the ground impatiently. Tooth, North and Sandy worriedly looked at each other before North finally spoke by saying "Let us say you were right about the girl being skittish." fallowed by a nervous laugh.

Bunny glared at North for a moment before he noticed that Cleo was missing and quickly looked around the room before he turned to his teammates and asked "Where is the fire bug?"

"She ran out of the room while we were being distracted by the fire." replied Tooth "We got a little too excited about taking her to my home to find out about her memories and she lashed out."

"Oh for the love of..." started Bunny before he glared at his companions again "You three take care of this mess, I'll look for the kid and then we're going to have a long chat about all this hullabaloo later."

With that said, Bunny left the Burrow and began to look around the Warren for Cleo.


	15. Chapter 15

**Giving Cleo Some Courage**

Bunny looked all over his warren to find the little fire bug and quickly found her sitting next to an opening of a tunnel as she began to sob for all it was worth. He sighed as he shook his head and said "At this rate, we'll never get this little fire bug to even look to us let alone trust us... maybe a different approach is needed."

As gingerly as he could, he walked over to the crying girl and whispered to hear "Hey kid, are you alright?"

Cleo looked up to see Bunny and sadly whimpered as she said "Go away, I'm nothing but a coward. I just wanna get out of here and never come back!"

Bunny gave a shrug and said "Fine by me... but while you head out, keep your eyes open on those little dingo dogs out there."

"W-what dingoes?" Cleo asked in curiosity.

"Them little dogs children always play with in the backyard." Bunny said "Especially greyhounds, their fearful little monsters who could bite your head off at any moment."

Cleo sniffled as she looked at the rabbit guardian and asked "Why... why don't you like dogs? I'm not scared of dogs, I've always wanted one as a pet."

"Yeah, well that's cause you aren't a bunny, if you were you'd think differently, especially when your pitted against ravenous little puppies." Bunny said "Them little beasts give me the creeps."

Cleo let out a laugh as she said "P-Puppies?! Your afraid of puppies?! But puppies are the cutest thing in the whole world! They're so playful and bouncy and I love to play with them when nobody is looking."

"Your not afraid of them?" Bunny asked with a raised eyebrow along with a grin "Not even those who bite?"

"I've played around with them to know that puppies and other animals only show aggression when someone traps them and... wait... I didn't know guardians can be afraid." Cleo said curiously.

Bunny sat down next to her as he sighed and said "To tell you the truth we may sound and look pretty invincible and are well known and loved for our reputation, but deep down we're just as regular as anyone else in the world. We all were cowards once in our lives but that never stopped us from doing what is right."

"I wish I could be as brave and you and the other guardians." Cleo said "I tried to stand up for myself but I just keep running away, everything frightens me and I'm afraid of everyone and everything."

"Well... your not afraid of me anymore, are you Bluey?" Bunny asked

"Yeah... I guess..." Cleo said before she thought of something and asked "Why did you call me Bluey?"

"It's a nickname for people with red hair, like you." Bunny said then he got another idea "Say... why don't we go and visit Jack? He's out looking after some of our believers."

"You mean... meet a... really?" Cleo asked in stunned surprise.

"Trust me mate, you're going to love this visit." Bunny said "Just get on my back and I'll take you there."

Cleo was wary at first but Bunny helped her up and soon they were off, bounding as fast as the wind from the Warren to the surface and soon to the familiar town of Burgess. At first Cleo was afraid of the ride, fearing of falling off or running into something surprising but soon she began to enjoy the rushing feeling of the wind in her hair and the bounding hops the pooka did from time to time to jump across rivers or trash cans and even bikes.

Cleo had never felt so alive before, nor had she ever felt so happy and Bunny could tell she was having the time of her life as they continued on their little adventure when they finally arrived at the Bennett household where Jack could be seen leaning outside his believer's bedroom window, fast asleep and snoring away.

'Why that lazy little... oh well, i'll scold him later.' Bunny said as he climbed up and stood next to the sleeping guardian. He helped Cleo climb down his back and he said "Welcome to the Bennett house, it's where, if I'm correct, a special little boy lives."

Cleo peered inside and her heart began to flutter when she saw Jamie, passed out on his bed, snoring away after the whole traveling ordeal he went through as well as the visit to his grandparents. He was so tired he didn't even have time to put on his pajamas, all he had on were his boxer shorts as he continued to snore away.

"Jamie!" Cleo exclaimed quietly in delight so not to awaken Jack and Jamie "He's so dreamy!"

"Oh boy, look how beat this kid is." Bunny said "Well, we can't leave him like this, the kid might freeze without those blankets on him... how about we help him out?"

Cleo looked at Bunny and said "But... Me? Go into a boy's room... while a boy is sleeping?"

"Ah, come on little bluey, if you can handle riding on my back all the way here like a bucking bronco, you can handle tucking someone in bed." Bunny said "I'll help you if you want."

"Really?" Cleo asked

"Yep, and we're doing it together," Bunny said, taking her hand gently into his "Here we go."

Bunny opened the window and helped himself and Cleo into the room. The moment she was inside, Cleo found herself rushing towards the bed and stood before Jamie, who was still sawing logs and had begun to drool due to his mouth being slightly opened. But Cleo couldn't care less, she was in her crush's home and standing right next to her crush face to face. Cleo began to feel her courage and confidence begin to build up as she continued to look after the boy she chased halfway across the globe for.

And she would never trade a moment like this for anything in the world.


	16. Chapter 16

**Jack and Bunny's Promise to Cleo**

Alondra was back in her hideout as she healed herself from the injury that she had received from Jamie. A look of hatred came over her face as she thought about how she had once again been prevented in stealing not just one, but two children. Not only that, but the boy had somehow managed to break free from her power. Alondra let out a growl as the healing from the Guardian stone went slower then usual, but her thoughts only went back to the little fire bug that had interfered with her before when the black fairy tried to steal a child from Poland. Then the second time when she was denied in stealing a child was that boy who somehow found a way to resist her temptation.

'Those two brats will pay, along with the Guardians, they will pay dearly for this!" Alondra thought fiercely to herself. Once the healing was done, she slowly moved her wings up and down to make sure they were working properly and as she watched her wings slowly sway in the stillness of the dark cave, she got an idea... a very nasty, wicked and despicable idea on how to get even with them, especially Tooth.

* * *

Back at the Bennett House, Cleo continued to watch Jamie for a little while longer before Bunny gently placed his paw/hand on her shoulder as he got her attention. Cleo turned to look at Bunny and blushed with embarrassment before she quickly got to work in tucking Jamie into bed. Once that was done, Bunny and Cleo made their way over to the window. Bunny gathered Cleo up in his arms before he stood on the window ledge for a moment to look at the still sleeping Jack. Bunny held Cleo in his left arm before raising his free paw and drew his center finger back and flicked it between Jack's eyebrows.

Jack let out a yelp of surprise and pain as he woke up from his sleep. Cleo blinked in surprise for a moment before she let out a soft giggle. Jack groaned as he brought his right hand up to hold his forehead in pain before he glared at Bunny in anger and was about to yell at him but Bunny held up a finger to tell him to keep quiet before pointing behind him. Jack quickly understood what Bunny was saying before the winter spirit quickly, but quietly, closed the window to Jamie's room. Bunny jumped down from the windowsill and landed on the ground with Jack following after him by floating down. One on the ground, Jack began to rant about what Bunny had done.

"Why did you just flick me in the head?" Jack questioned angrily.

"That was just half the punishment for sleeping on the job," answered Bunny as he set Cleo down on the ground "You're suppose to keep an eye on Jamie and Sophie at all times and that includes not sleeping on the job."

"Give me a break Bunny," groaned Jack as he rubbed the back of his head "It was a long flight home back on the plane and you know it."

"Still not an excuse for sleeping on the job in my opinion." chided Bunny

Jack frowned before he soon noticed Cleo standing beside Bunny and he became curious.

"Wasn't Cleo suppose to be waiting for us back in your Warren?" asked Jack as he looked up at Bunny.

Bunny hesitated as he rubbed the back of his head for a moment before looking down at Cleo, who was hanging her head in shame.

"Yeah, well... things took a turn for the worse back in the warren." Bunny said gently as he turned his attention back on Jack again.

"How'd it happen?" Jack questioned.

"Um... I accidently set one of Bunny's chairs on fire." Cleo confessed in a shy voice.

Jack looked down at Cleo for a moment in surprise before he burst out laughing.

"Oh... he must have gotten you really riled up to do something like that!" Jack exclaimed as he bent over laughing.

Bunny glowered at the winter spirit before he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him saying "I didn't rile her up Frostbite, it was the others back at the Warren. They got a little too excited about Bluey's memories, if I remember correctly North was the last straw before our little firebug... well, went off."

At the word 'Memories', Jack stopped laughing and stared at Bunny in befuddlement before looking down at Cleo curiously and asked "What does he mean by that Cleo?"

Cleo was hesitant as she held the bottom edge of her shirt, but finally she shyly looked up at Jack and answered him "I, um... I kind of don't have much memory of my past." Cleo said in a soft voice.

Jack blinked in surprise at what he just heard before he squatted down to get eye level with Cleo.

"You mean... You don't remember your past life?" Jack asked with a sorrowful look upon his face.

Cleo looked down and shook her head in answering Jack's question.

"Tooth said that she might have my memories back at her home." Cleo explained as she continued to look down at the ground "That's when she, North and Sandy got a little too excited about taking me over to her home. North especially."

"What a surprise." Jack commented with an eye roll.

"He kind of... starting walking towards me too fast and spoke to me loudly. Then I... panicked and threw a fireball at them in defense."

Jack was quiet for a moment before he stood up and looked at Bunny. The Guardian of Hope held a thoughtful look upon his face as he remembered how Jack didn't have any memories when Manny choose to bring the young boy back to life from the pond he drowned in to save his little sister, thus making him a Guardian (thought he didn't know it at the time) Jack and Bunny shared a nod in agreement with each other before Bunny crouched down to the ground to get to eye level with Cleo.

"Listen Cleo, we're going to go help you get your memories back," Bunny told her in a gentle voice, causing Cleo to blink in surprise as she turned to look at Bunny with hope rising up within her chest.

"R-Really?" Cleo asked

Bunny nodded as Jack knelt down once again to talk to her and said "Really, trust me, I know how you're feeling right now. But doing so means we'll have to go back to the warren to talk to Tooth about getting her permission first."

Cleo shrunk back a little in fear at the thought of going back to the Warren to face the other Guardians again after what had happened back there. Bunny noticed and softly placed a paw/hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"Don't worry little Sheila," Bunny reassured her "Jack and I will make sure that Tooth, North and Sandy don't get too excited around you again. We promise."

Cleo looked up at Bunny to see the rabbit's face held a look of serenity and that was all it took for Cleo to jump up and wrap his arms around Bunny's neck. Bunny blinked in surprise at the action the little spirit girl just did for a moment and didn't know what to do, until Cleo whispered softly into his ear "Thank you."

Bunny smiled as he slowly wrapped his arms around the little girl's body as he embraced her back. Jack smiled at the scene before him before he stood up to his full height again.

"Well... shall we head back to the Warren then?" Jack asked with a smirk.

Bunny stood up with Cleo in his arms as he smirked back at the winter spirit before he gave him a firm look and said "Yeah, but don't you even think that I've forgotten about giving you a good talk to once we're back there mate."

Jack let out a nervous chuckle at what Bunny had said and felt like the older Guardian was going to give him a good, long, talk about not sleeping on the job.


	17. Chapter 17

**The Last Straw**

Back at the Warren Sandy, North and Tooth had just taken the burnt piece of furniture out of the Guardian of Hope's home and were trying to figure out what to do with it as North said "Okay, the fire is out and nothing else is on fire, what now?"

"I have no idea." Tooth said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Hey guys!"

Tooth, North and Sandy jumped and turned quickly when they heard that familiar voice and smiled when they saw none other then Jack coming towards them with a smile on his face.

"Jack! Aren't you suppose to be watching Jamie and Sophie back home?" North asked.

"Bunny switched shifts with me." Jack said "And don't worry about our little fire bug, she's with him and having the time of her life. Anywho, I have some big news for you guys."

"What is it Jack?" Tooth asked

"I found North's sleigh!" Jack said with an excited tone of voice "I found it back in Burgess hidden in an old abandoned barn!"

"My sleigh!? You found it!?" North asked with excitement "This is great news Jack! Are my reindeer safe too?"

"Yep, all eight of them present and accounted for." Jack said "I can take you there if you want!"

"I'm already on it!" North said, nearly running over the other guardians as he ran forwards to be reunited with his beloved mode of transportation "Here I come my beautiful sleigh!"

"This is wonderful! How did you manage to find it so fast?" Tooth asked

"Oh I guess I was just lucky." Jack said with a shrug.

"Come on Sandy! Let's go!" Tooth exclaimed happily as she grabbed her golden friend's arm.

Sandy just stood there and shook his head before he pointed to the sandy image he made in his head: it was of those puzzle boxes Tooth's fairies always kept the teeth of the children after they lost them.

"Oh right, Cleo." Tooth said "We did say we would restore her memories."

"Tell you what Tooth." Jack said "I'll take you and North to the sleigh, Sandy here goes and gets the kid's teeth while we're away."

"Well, Sandy has never..." Tooth began but Jack held up his hand to stop her.

"Come on, With all those little helpers of yours, Sandy here should have no trouble at all finding the box, and then he'll rejoin us and we'll all be riding off into the sunset on the sleigh faster then you can sing Christmas carols." Jack told her.

Tooth couldn't help but giggle as Jack took her hand and said "Alright, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it your way. See you later Sandy!"

Sandy waved to the guardians as they went their separate ways to get the sleigh back and to restore Cleo's memories.

* * *

Back in Burgess it wasn't long before Jack led them to the barn and opened the stable doors, revealing the sleigh with not one scratch on it and all of it's reindeer safe and sound and still hooked up onto the sleigh.

"My sleigh! Oh my wonderful sleigh!" North exclaimed with glee, practically kissing the sleigh with glee and hugging it as if he was a child who was opening his presents on Christmas day.

Tooth smiled, she was glad her friend's sleigh was recovered... but something felt off. Why was the sleigh in pristine shape and left in such a place like this? Was Alondra slipping up or was something else going on here? She turned to Jack and said "Uh, Jack, why would the sleigh be here the whole time when..."

"Never mind that Toothy, Bunny Boy and I went though a lot to protect our believers, so why question good luck right now?"

Toothy? Bunny Boy? Jack had never called Bunny 'Bunny Boy', ever! And Toothy, she hadn't heard that nickname ever since the day Alondra first became evil and... No, it couldn't be. Maybe he was picking the slang off from some punk kids or something.

North sat on his sleigh, gripping the reins tightly before he heard the unmistakable sound of jingling sleigh bells from the hats of the elves and turned to his side to see two elves standing beside him with big smiles on their faces.

"Boys! It's good to see you! Where are the other elves and the yetis? Are they okay?" North asked them.

The elves just stood there with those grins on their faces, in fact they look like they were deep in a trance with evil in their eyes and their mouths twisting into something very sinister.

"Uh, boys?" North asked

Suddenly, one of the elves threw a lump of coal at North's face, hitting his head as the man clutched his face in pain and the other elf tossed another at the reindeer. The next thing Tooth knew, she and Jack jumped back as the sleigh suddenly took off into the air and North screamed as the sleigh took off into the air and he cried "HELP! I'M OUT OF CONTROL!"

Tooth was about to take to the sky when suddenly a firm hand gripped her and she turned to shout "Jack! What are you-"

POW!

Tooth fell down to the ground with a thud and a dazed look in her eyes as she watched 'Jack' morph into a familiar face, a very dark and evil face... Alondra.

"I've drained all the power from the guardian stone," Alondra said "And now I can do the same to all the other guardians... starting with you Toothy."

Tooth tried to recover but the dark fairy was stronger and delivered another punch, one that knocked Tooth out cold, but before she subsumed to the darkness, Alondra wrapped her fingers firm and tight across Tooth's wings, gave them a sharp tug... then blackout.

* * *

Unaware of what had happened, the real Jack was returning to the warren with Bunnymund and Cleo, still grasping the bunny with her hands the same time Sandy had just returned with the Tooth Box with a confused look on his face.

"Sandy? What are you doing here?" Bunny asked

Sandy showed them via sandy images that Jack had came to take Tooth and North to the sleigh before Bunny interrupted and said "That's impossible, Jack's been with me the entire time!"

"Then who... I have a bad feeling about this." Jack said with an uneasy feeling coming on.

"Jack, you go get the others, i'll go back to the Bennet house!" Bunny exclaimed, gripping Cleo tighter in his arms.

Soon the Guardian of Fun and the Guardian of Hope ran faster then they had ever ran before in hopes of getting to their friends in time before something bad happened to them... or if it already had happen to them.

Bunny ran as fast as he could back to the Bennett's house with Cleo clinging onto him in worry. She had no idea what to do or say but she hoped that Jamie was alright. Once the pair arrived Bunny wasted no time in hopping up to Jamie's window and peered inside. Much to his and Cleo's relief, Jamie was still in his bed, fast asleep. But when he went over to Sophie's room, that was when his worst fears were realized: Sophie was gone, no where to be found and instead of the little girl, he found something that made his eyes go wide with shock, fear and anger: Tooth's wings.

Bunny was so shocked he couldn't move but Cleo did, having slipped out of his grasp and moving towards the ripped off wings of the tooth fairy to find a note placed next to them, saying "Your slipping Guardians, now I have one of your believers and in a few hours, she'll become a nice addition to my collection... that is if your brave enough to face the new and improved Alondra."

Cleo felt as if the whole world had suddenly become a frightening and cruel place to be in and, judging by how Bunny looked at the news of one of his friends losing her wings and losing his dearest believer to the dark fairy, she had a feeling Bunny was feeling the exact same thing for the first time in many, many years.


	18. Chapter 18

**Jamie Gets The Bad News**

Bunny let out a growl as he slammed his right fist against the wall of Sophie's room in anger with Cleo staring at him from Sophie's bed in fear.

"That low down, no good..." snarled Bunny as he glared down at the floor as he trailed off.

Bunny than sank to the floor and held his head in his hands as he let out a sigh of frustration. Cleo, cautiously, walked up to Bunny and hesitantly placed a hand on the rabbit's furry shoulder. Bunny slowly raised his head up to look at Cleo as the young girl stared at him in sadness.

"I... I'm sorry." voiced Cleo softly as tears began to form within her eyes "If I hadn't have mentioned about losing my memories or kept running away from the others then..."

Bunny cut Cleo off by quickly gathering her into his arms and hugging her tightly against his chest. Cleo was a little surprised about this action at first and wasn't sure how to respond, until Bunny spoke to her in a soft voice.

"It wasn't your fault Cleo." spoke Bunny firmly yet gently so she would know he truly didn't blame her for any of this.

Cleo blinked up at Bunny as she was pressed against the soft fur of the Guardian's chest. He let out a sigh as he stared towards Sophie's bed, where Tooth's wings were still laying there.

"We would have found out about your memories sooner or later," continued Bunny with a frown "But now that we do, I get the feeling that Alondra already knows about them as well when she tricked Tooth and North into following her and that's got me worried."

"W-What do you mean?" asked Cleo fearfully.

Bunny gently pushed Cleo away from him as he stared into the young girl's frightened face.

"Alondra might try to use your memories as a bargaining tool or something to throw you off your game," warned Bunny softly "It happened once before with Jack. It was a year ago when another evil being named Pitch Black, also known as the Boogieman, came to destroy me and the others. Manny chose Jack to become a Guardian and just like you he had no memories of his past either. Pitch found out about that somehow and used Jack's memories to draw him in and distracted Frostbite for a while so that Pitch's nightmares could..."

Bunny trailed off as he looked down at the ground in shame as the memory of the day Easter was ruined and how he, along with Tooth and North, blamed Jack for what happened. Cleo noticed this and became concerned as to why Bunny trailed off.

"What happened?" Cleo asked gently.

"Bunny sadly sighed before he looked Cleo straight in the eye.

"I'll tell you the rest of the story later," Bunny said with a small smile "Right now we need to find Tooth and North. Then meet up with Jack and Sandy so that we can find Alondra's hideout as soon as possible."

Cleo was still curious about the story Bunny had told her, but she knew that there will be another time for it later. Cleo was about to nod her head in agreement when the two heard a voice speaking to them from behind Bunny.

"Bunny," said the voice sleepily from the door.

Bunny quickly turned to look over his shoulder and saw Jamie standing there with a tired look on his face, while he rubbed the right corner of his eye with the back of his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Jamie asked curiously.

Bunny stood up as Cleo quickly hid behind him as she shyly peeked out to gaze at Jamie.

"Jamie..." Bunny started as he sadly gazed down at the boy before him.

Jamie became fully awake when he saw the Guardian's face before he turned his gaze to Sophie's bed. Jamie's face took on a look of terror when he saw Tooth's wings lying on the bed, but no Sophie.

"W-Where's Sophie?" asked Jamie as he looked up at the Guardian of Hope fearfully "And why are Tooth's wings on Sophie's bed?"

Bunny was hesitant for a moment before he finally spoke.

"Alondra has your sister Jamie... i'm so sorry." Bunny said sadly

Jamie stared up at Bunny in horror at what the guardian had told him and then began to cry out of pain and sorrow. He had never felt so heartbroken in all his life. First he lost his father, now he lost his little sister. This was a nightmare he knew he couldn't wake up from even if he tried.

Bunny reached out for him but Jamie backed away, looking at the guardian with tears in his eyes as a look of anger took over him "How could you let her take my sister?! You're suppose to be a guardian!"

"Jamie, I didn't know she would come back, if I had I would've been here a lot sooner." Bunny said "You can't blame me for this."

"How could you be so slow! You're a giant rabbit! How could you be too late!?" Jamie exclaimed, too upset to listen to reason "Now she's gone because of you!"

With that, Jamie ran out of his little sister's bedroom and ran back to his own bedroom in tears. Cleo wanted to go after him but Bunny put his paw on her shoulder and said "Let him go... the little fella just needs time to cool off before we can try to talk reason into him."

"He sounded like he really hated you." Cleo said "Does that mean he doesn't like you anymore and that he... hates you?"

Bunny looked at Cleo and softly said "Sometimes people say what they don't mean... i'm sure Jamie didn't mean to say those things, he's just upset... but i'm more upset I wasn't there for my believer when she needed me."

"I'm sure she still loves you." Cleo said with a small smile "Like I love you."

Bunny couldn't help but smile as he scooped up Cleo and said "Come on, let's round up the others so we can figure out what to do next and don't worry about a thing, we'll make sure Sophie comes home before sunrise so her mother won't have to worry about a thing."

And so they left, but Cleo took some time to draw a picture for Jamie to find before she left and hoped that he would like it... and maybe believe in other spirits like her.


	19. Chapter 19

**Tooth's Rescue and Sacrifice**

It wasn't easy but Bunny, Jack and Cleo managed to find North, whom had crashed landed in a junk yard and was now stuck in a tree while his reindeer were scattered about and the sleigh buried half way in a pile of junk. Bunny had used his ears to find the guardian of wonder and right now he was pushing his way past some garbage and bits of scattered sleigh pieces to get to North, whom was having trouble getting out of the tangled mess of old blankets he had been trying to remove.

"North, are you okay?" Jack asked as he helped untangle the old man.

"The time where I hung upside down in my workshop, has officially been topped." North said with a moan as he rubbed his head "Oh my head."

"Alondra magically turned herself into a look a like of Jack so that-" Bunny began but was cut off when North nearly fell on top of him, causing him to back away with a yelp.

"I already know, Tooth told me." North said as Jack and Cleo steadied him.

"Really? Where is she now?" Jack asked.

"She hopped onto the sleigh while we were flying like crazy," North said "Then after we knocked those evil... mind controlled elves, Tooth took one of my snow globes and said... that she was going to take down Alondra on her own, to finish things with her once and for all."

"All alone?" Bunny asked as an exclamation mark appeared over Sandy's head "Is she whacko?! She's already lost her wings, does she want to lose her head next?!"

"Probably." North said "You should have seen the look on her face... I had never seen her like that before... but it'll be a lot worse if Alondra manages to overpower her... and then... I can't even imagine what would happen if Tooth loses."

* * *

It was a bad idea, her brain told her as Tooth scales the mountains of Peru in search of a familiar cavern. Every part of her brain told her that this was a stupid, crazy, insane, suicidal idea but she had to rescue Sophie, she had to rescue the children and she wanted to punch Alondra in the face so badly she wanted to knock out every single one of her former friend's teeth and make it into a necklace for the guardian to wear.

She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't stand idling by being the team's 'good girl' while the dark fairy harmed all those poor little children. She was going to strike back, rescue the children and make sure that this never happens again. And she was definitely going to rip Alondra's wings clean off for this, so she could endure the aching pain of throbbing feet and hands like Tooth was enduring right now.

Finally she reached the top of the sheer cliff she had been climbing and rolled onto her now wingless back, exhausted and sore all over. She took a breath and sat herself back up to find that the entrance to Alondra's cavern was now guarded by two brain washed Yetis. She didn't even bother to think of a plan, she just got back on her feet, marched right up and said "Alright, I've had enough of this, tell your master I want to see her right now."

Surprisingly, the monsters stepped aside and allowed her to pass. Tooth was stunned by this but she shook it off and marched herself into the cave, where she was soon approached by the missing elves, who apparently now served the evil fairy as did the other yetis. When they saw her they allowed Tooth to pass and the tooth fairy kept on walking, so focused on her plan to rescue her friend she couldn't care less if she was walking straight into a trap or not or how defenseless she was.

She wanted Sophie back and she was going to get her back no matter what.

She soon came upon the fairy's lair where she gasped at the sight of the statues of the children and had a horrible feeling that she had just discovered what Alondra does to the children after she captures them and feared that Sophie would be next. She looked around until she spotted Alondra, sitting on her throne and, much to Tooth's horror, she was cradling Sophie in her arms as the child's body began to change to a sickly shade of gray, the same gray that the statues of the poor children were.

"Sophie, No!" Tooth exclaimed before she ran up towards the throne and yelled at the top of her lungs "Stop it! Stop it! Leave Sophie alone!"

"Well, look who finally decided to show up." Alondra said "What kept you, I was starting to think you'd miss the show."

"What show?" Tooth asked.

Alondra pointed to her right side and Tooth realized that there, sitting upon a pedestal, was the stolen guardian stone, only it glowed very faintly and didn't show as much power as it had before. Tooth was shocked and stared at the stone before she heard Alondra say "As you can see I have almost drain this stone from all it's power. Soon it will have no more power and when that happens, I will become the most powerful being of them all."

"No!" Tooth exclaimed "You'll harm everyone! You'll kill not only the guardians but every other spirits as well!" she got down on her knees, finally realizing how foolish it was to face this evil fairy without any weapons or a plan of attack. "Please, I'm begging you! Don't do this! Spare Sophie, spare the last energy of the Guardian stone!"

"Why would I want to do that?" Alondra asked "What can you offer me or trade that is just as valuable as the stone and this girl combined? I already took your wings, what more do you have to lose?"

That was when Tooth knew what she had to do "Me... Take me instead!"

"You?" Alondra asked

"Yes, yes, if it means you'll spare poor, innocent Sophie and give back the Guardian stone so it can heal properly, i'll do it." Tooth said, tears spilling from her eyes "I willingly give up my position as Guardian of Memories, my powers, my kingdom... and even my wings to you, just give back the stone and spare Sophie."

Alondra thought about Tooth's offer long and hared as Tooth looked at Sophie, who was close to becoming a statue, and sobbed harder. Just when she thought Alondra would reconsider she heard the evil fairy said "Alright then, so be it. One powerful guardian in exchange for a stone and a girl."

Tooth looked up and saw Alondra cast a spell on Sophie, reverting the transformation and turning her back into a regular girl. Tooth was so happy she wanted to cry out, to hug her friend, but she couldn't get up... or feel her legs. She looked down and realized that she was turning into a statue herself as Alondra looked at her with a nasty smile.

"Thank you for your noble and, quite foolish sacrifice Toothy." Alondra said "I shall not let it go to waste. Now I don't need the stone anymore, I have you."

Tooth looked down at herself, watching her beautiful feathers change into colorless stone as well as her whole body before she looked at the deep sleeping form of Sophie and said sadly "Good bye my dear Sophie... I tried... I Tried." Tooth hung her head and shed tears before the spell finally finished and Tooth had become a solid statue, with one last tear dripping down her face before it fell and turned into a pebble, which landed with a soft thud on the cavern floors.


	20. Chapter 20

**The Return of Cleo's Memories**

Back with Cleo and the Guardians, they were talking amongst themselves for a while before North, Sandy, Bunny and Jack all let out a collective gasp of shock. Their bodies seem to tense for a moment, while their eyes widened in shock and fear. Cleo noticed this and became concerned for her friends.

"What's wrong?" asked Cleo in a worried voice "Are you okay?"

"W-We're alright Bluey." Bunny replied as he looked down at Cleo with a reassuring smile, while he panted as he tried to catch his breath. But his smile turned into a frown of worry "But something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean?" Cleo asked with a frown of her own.

"That's what I'd like to know." Jack said in a confused voice "It felt like something was grabbing at my lungs and squeezing the air out, while it also felt like my heart was being torn out of my chest. This hasn't happened to me before."

"That is because you weren't a Guardian until you became one," explained North as he turned to look at Jack with a concerned look upon his face.

"What do you mean?" asked Jack as he turned to look at North for an explanation.

North inhaled before he began to go into details of what he needed to explain to Jack.

"When a spirit, who has been chosen by Man in Moon, is sworn in as a Guardian they are bonded to their comrades. So when one member of our team is in danger then the rest of us feel... a sudden pulse of pain going through our bodies."

"Yeah and something tells me that Tooth is in major trouble mate," said Bunny as he grasp at the fur of his chest where he still felt the dull throb of pain in his heart.

Jack and Cleo's eyes widened in horror at the thought of Tooth before Jack started to look between his team members for answers.

"So, what are we gonna do?" asked Jack in an urgent voice "We need to find Tooth and fast."

"It's not that easy Jack," said North with a sad expression "Even though I heard the location Tooth asked the Snow Globe to take her, we haven't the faintest idea where Alondra's hideout could be."

"Well, we can't just stand here when we know Tooth is in danger!" exclaimed Bunny in frustration.

While this was going on, Cleo had walked away from the group as she sat down at the base of a tree with a grief stricken look upon her features. Cleo hugged herself as she felt helpless with the situation that was now escalating with the group she had now become friends with.

'This is my fault', thought Cleo sadly to herself 'If I hadn't have mentioned my memory loss and ran from Bunny's home then none of this would be happening.'

Sandy, who did not partake in the conversation, noticed Cleo sitting far away from them before he quickly made his way over to her. Once he was at the young fire spirit's side, Sandy placed a comforting hand on Cleo's shoulder, which made her look up at him with tears threatening to leak out from her eyes. Sandy began to ask Cleo if she was okay through his sand images. Cleo gazed at the sand images carefully before she answered Sandy's question.

"No, Sandy, I'm not okay." replied Cleo as she turned away from the sandman "This is all my fault. If I hadn't have told you all about my memories than none of this would be happening. Tooth is in danger and I'm not even sure if I could even help you guys in defeating Alondra."

North, Jack and Bunny had stopped bickering with each other when they heard what Cleo had said. They quickly made their way over to Cleo and Sandy as the young fire spirit continued on with her talk with Sandy.

"I'm not like you or the others Sandy," continued Cleo as she gestured to the sandman before moving her head to look at the approaching Jack, Bunny and North "I'm not strong like you guys and I don't think I'm brave enough to face Alondra. I... I don't know if I could do it."

Jack frowned as he thought about what Cleo had said. Cleo may have been two hundred years old, but she was still a child in spirit terms. Jack remembered how the Guardians had asked him to be part of their group when Manny chose him to be a Guardian. He thought that he wasn't the type of guy who would fit into their group because he was more of the snowballs and fun time type of spirit that only wanted to hang around with mortal children. Jack took in a breath before he walked over to Cleo and knelt down to he at her level. Jack placed a gentle hand on Cleo's shoulder as the fire spirit looked up at jack with a few tears that stared to roll down her face.

"You'll never know unless you try, Cleo," said Jack with a reassuring smile on his face "I also wasn't really sure what my role was when I first came into this world when Manny fished me out of the lake. All my like I wandered around the world just making snow and playing pranks, but that changed when I met the Guardians. I wasn't sure if I was going to fit in with them when they told me that I was a Guardian like them. We were... pretty different from each other, but that all changed when I figured out that I had always been a guardian. And it was all thanks to my memories that I figured it out."

At the mention of memories, an image of a lightbulb appeared over Sandy's head. Sandy quickly dug into the left pocket of his robe before pulling out the tooth box that held Cleo's memories. Cleo stared at the tooth box in surprise and nearly reached out for it before she hesitated in her actions. Cleo wasn't sure if she should take the tooth box. Bunny noticed Cleo's hesitation and crouched down to be at eye level with Cleo as he reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind the young spirit's ear.

"Cleo, it's alright to look at your memories," said Bunny gently as Cleo looked at him curiosity "I think it's best that you look at your memories right now instead of later, otherwise you might never know who you are later."

Cleo gently bit down on her bottom lip for a moment, still hesitant on looking at her memories, but soon took in a breath to calm herself. Cleo then took the tooth box from Sandy before she gently cradled it in her hands. Cleo started down at the tooth box for a moment before looking up at the guardians again.

"Um... do any of you know how to open my memories?" asked Cleo with a small smile.

Jack let out a chuckle before he pointed to the blue crystal shape marking in the middle of the tooth box's surface.

"Just press here," instructed Jack.

Cleo looked down at the blue crystal for a moment before taking in another calming breath.

'Well... here it goes' thought Cleo as she gently pressed the fingers of her right hand on the design.

That was when her vision flashed and before she knew it, Cleo found herself reliving the memories of her past.


	21. Chapter 21

**Cleo's Past**

Cleo remembered her own living childhood from a long, long time ago, back when Cleo was just an ordinary, plain, nothing special little girl who lived in the olden days within the year 1790. She remembered her kind and loving family and that she was the older sister of her six year old brother John who she loved to play with every day and sometimes at night when they star gazed together in the night sky or pretend to be heroes from the stories their parents would tell them.

Cleo remembered that she was kind and gentle towards everyone that she was friends with. Everything was peaceful for Cleo in her family back in those days, when everything was perfect and filled with roses... One summer day, she heard a story from an elderly couple about how there was a dark fairy flying from village to village all over the world stealing children for unknown purposes. It was the one story she never thought, or hoped, was real... until tragedy struck in the form of Alondra.

On that night, Cleo and her little brother John were fast asleep in their bedroom, dreaming sweet dreams when Alondra appeared from out of the shadows within their room. Thinking carefully, Alondra chose John to be her next victim and began to cast her spell upon him in the worm of seductive whispers of promising him what he most desired.

"Come with me my sweet, darling little boy," Alondra said "And I'll take you to see the Sandman. The sandman is lonely without any children to come pay him a visit. It would make a nice surprise if someone came to visit his castle of dreams, you may even get to take some of his magic sand to show to everyone when you get back."

John woke up and was smiling, completely under the dark fairy's powerful control over his desire to prove to everyone that beings like the Sandman existed. "I wanna meet the sandman." he said as he climbed out of bed and walked towards the fairy.

Without warning, Cleo woke up with a jolt once she heard the voice of the fairy and saw that she was about to try and take away her little brother from his family. Cleo didn't want to lose her brother to this unknown creature but she had to do something quick or else John would be gone, never to be seen again like the children in the elders' story. Quickly, Cleo turned on the lantern on her bedside table and grabbed a broom stick that was standing next to her bed.

"Leave my little brother alone!" Cleo shouted as she struck Alondra, trying to protect her brother from the dark fairy.

"Get off me you wretch!" Alondra snapped back, pushing the girl backwards and causing her to crash into her bedside table.

The collision caused the lantern to fall off and smash into pieces on the hard wooden floor. The oil from the lamp poured out and fire quickly began to engulf the whole room. Alondra backed away in fear of how fast the fire was spreading all over and retreated into the shadows, escaping while Cleo ran to her brother and shook him as hard as she could "John!"

"Wh-What happened?!" John asked once the hypnotizing powers of the fairy wore off. His eyes widened when he saw the rapidly growing flames in their room and cried "What's going on!?"

"We have to get to our parents!" Cleo shouted.

Taking her brother by the hand, Cleo and John ran as fast as they could to their parents' bedroom. They broke down the door and yelled at the top of their lungs "Fire! Our house is on fire!"

At first they didn't believe them but when dark, black smoke suddenly bellowed out from the children's completely burning bedroom and even the living room, they quickly got out of bed without bothering to change into regular clothes. The mother and father managed to escape through the front door but before Cleo and John could escape the support beam of the house broke off and crashed down in front of the door, cutting off the children from their parents.

Cleo and John quickly backtracked as the flames continued to grow higher and higher and the whole house slowly fell apart all around them before they finally came upon a dead end with a small window above them that was opened just slightly.

John clung onto his big sister as tears fell from his eyes and fear took over his whole body, causing him to shake and sob as hard as he could as he sobbed "We're trapped! Waaaaah!"

"Don't cry John," Cleo said as she wrapped her arms around her little brother in a loving manor, doing her best to comfort him despite being in such a hopeless situation "We can't give up yet. You can't give up just yet... you must be brave."

As John managed to quiet down, Cleo looked at the window and got an idea. She and her brother used a chair to reach the window and they worked together to get the door open, just enough so that the both of them could climb out to safety. Cleo helped her little brother climb out first and just when she was about to climb out next a part of the house's celling suddenly came off and collapsed right on top of Cleo, trapping her as she heard John cry out "CLEO! CLEO!"

"Don't worry about me John!" She shouted as loud as she could "Find our parents and do not look back for anything!"

After that her vision began to darken as the fire spread and the smoke got worse and worse until finally Cleo fell unconscious from the smoke that suffocated her... to death. Cleo opened her eyes, brought back to the present when her flashback ended and she found herself cradled in Buddy's arms as he looked down at her in concern.

Cleo stared up at him and the other guardians for a while before she felt tears rolling down her face. She then buried her face into Bunny's furry chest, sobbing for a while as Bunny gently patted her back.

"I remember who I am." she said "I remember now... all of it."


	22. Chapter 22

**Jamie makes his Move**

Meanwhile, back at the Bennett household, Jamie was practically pulling his hair out in worry as he paced the empty living room, wondering what to do and how he was going to explain to his mother why his sister was missing. He couldn't simply tell her that a dark fairy had broke into their house and stole Sophie, she has enough on her plate as it is, having to end their vacation early to help support a very important family member, she'd be even worse if she found out Sophie was taken.

Jamie had to do something, but what? He had no idea... then he got an idea.

With no other choice left, he got dressed to go out, armed himself with snacks, weapons out of his old toys and grabbed his sled, making sure not to make as much noise as he could as he closed the door behind him and headed out into the darkness. Walking out of his house was going to be a challenge for if he made one wrong move, his dog would wake up and she would bark so loud everyone in the neighborhood would wake up.

Luckily the door wasn't too noisy to he managed to slip through without anyone noticing and he took off on his sled to reach the outskirts of the forest, searching left and right for anyone who was fallowing him before he entered the woods. He made sure he was a good enough distance away before he grabbed a thick branch and banged it against the nearest tree he could find, hitting the tree multiple times before he decided to shout.

"Hey fairy lady!" Jamie shouted "Come on out! I want to talk to you! I want my sister back! Come on out and fight!"

Nothing. Jamie banged his branch against the tree again "Dark fairy! Here I am! A poor, defenseless, helpless little boy out in the middle of nowhere! Now would be a good time to come and take me away!"

Again, nothing.

Jamie screamed in anger as he yelled "COME ON OUT YOU OVERSIZED EXUSE OF A MOTHBALL!"

With another loud shout he swung his branch against the tree again, but this time a strong, firm arm stopped the branch from making contact. Jamie looked up quickly and saw that he was standing face to face with Alondra, her eyes piercing through him like a knife through his body.

"What a twist, normally I have to come to the children to take them, but this is the first time that one has actually come begging for me to come to them." the dark fairy said "Now what do you want? Have you come to your senses and decided to come with me after all?"

Jamie dropped the branch and said "I want my sister back, you fluttering freak!" he pulled out a slingshot from his backpack and took aim at the fairy before he said "If you don't give her back right now, i'm going to make you sorry you ever came here!"

"Please, as if a dumb pebble is going to take me down." Alondra said "How about we strike a deal?"

"What kind of deal?" Jamie asked

"I game I like to play with all the children I meet." Alondra said "You see, this game is a game to test how much courage you have. I rarely ever get the chance to play it with children, let alone anyone else."

"Is it anything like checkers or hide and seek or something?" Jamie asked

"It's more like a finding things game." Alondra said "You see, I take something from you that you value the most, and you have to find it inside a little play area I've made for you."

"You mean like the easter bunny hiding his eggs and we have to find them?" Jamie asked

"Yeah, only it's not eggs your looking for." Alondra said "It'll be your sister."

"Just tell me where she is." Jamie said

"What's the fun in that?" Alondra asked

"If you don't tell me where she is right now, I'm going to rip your wings off!" Jamie shouted angrily.

"And if you don't cooperate with me, I'll wring your sister's neck and snap her head clean off!" Alondra threatened as she snarled in anger.

"You... you wouldn't!" Jamie gasped in fear.

"Try me." Alondra said "It wouldn't be the first time."

Jamie felt angry but he was also worried about his little sister's safety, and since there was not much else he could do, he sighed in defeat and said "Alright, fine. I'll play your game."

"That's more like it." Alondra said with an evil grin "Oh, and one more thing; to find your sister you have to find her within a labyrinth... made out of your own worst fears."

"What?!" Jamie asked in shock.

Before he even had time to blink, Alondra casted a spell over the boy and a blanket of darkness engulfed the boy as he shut his eyes and felt the ground spinning under his feet. He spun faster and faster and faster until at last he stopped. He looked up as he got back on his feet and realized that he was no longer in the woods, he was standing in the middle of a gothic themed carnival with creepy looking games and rides everywhere he looked and above him was a sign that was written in big bold red words "WELCOME TO THE CARNIVAL OF JAMIE BENNETT'S WORST NIGHTMARES".

Jamie pinched himself to see if he was dreaming and to his dismay he wasn't, this was for real and he could remember for many reasons why he fears going to carnivals. But he had to be brave, Sophie had to be somewhere inside and he had to find her. He got out his flashlight and looked around as he began exploring the carnival as multiple eyes watched him walk past the sign and deeper into the carnival.


	23. Chapter 23

**We End This Once and for All!**

While Jamie was inside a world of his worst fears, the guardians finally calmed Cleo down enough for her to stand on her own feet and she said "I... I wish my brother could be here."

"But don't you see? You saved his life!" Jack said with a smile "You rescued your little brother, twice! This proves that not only you have the guts to face someone like Alondra but you can inspire others do to the same! You are the spirit of courage, and I know you are still courageous, you just have to believe it. Believe in yourself like we believe in you."

Cleo smiled as she looked at her guardian friends... then felt something was wrong.

Before anyone knew it there was a flash of light and everyone covered their eyes in pain. When the light died down, the group uncovered their eyes to reveal the insides of Alondra's cave, which was twice as frightening with the possessed yetis and Elfs scattered among the stone statues of the dark fairy's poor young victims.

"What the-What just happened?!" North exclaimed in shock.

"I think Alondra's finally allowing guests into her cave instead of the usual slimy cave dwellers you'd expect to find." Jack said as he looked around before he said "Maybe if we added a few more lanterns and some flowers we could flip it into something nice."

"Was that suppose to be a joke?" Bunny asked "Cause it's not funny."

"I was just trying to lighten things up around here." Jack said

"What did she do to all my elfs and yetis?" North asked as his workers walked towards them in a slow, zombie like manor.

"I think she gave them some good brainwashing." Jack said.

Then Sandy pointed to something behind them and the guardians turned, expecting to fight but they were shocked to find Tooth, transformed into a stone statue just like the children and right at the foot of the fairy statue was none other then Jamie and Sophie, they were moving around in a deep sleep as if in a nightmare and their bodies were glowing a faint dark purple as they moaned and grunted as if they were in pain.

"Jamie! Sophie!" Jack exclaimed as he and the others ran towards them.

Bunny gently picked up Sophie and held her close, shaking her awake as he said "Sophie! Come on little ankle biter, wake up!"

Jack placed his arms on Jamie's shoulder and shook him as hard as he could "Wake up Jamie, wake up! Wake up!"

"They won't wake up... not until I'm through with them."

The guardians immediately stood their ground and looked at the throne where Alondra stood with her hand on the mythical stone she stole and the other with her staff. She was looking down at them with a grin on her face and a look that had 'maniac' written all over it.

"What did you do to our believers?!" Bunny demanded in anger

"I put them to sleep." Alondra said "Jamie here demanded that I hand over his sister, so... in a way I kind of did. They are both in a world of nightmares and the only way they can ever escape is as if they would face their worst fears. But as you can see by my little collection, nobody has ever succeeded."

The Guardians looked around at the statues and Jack shouted "This is your plan? You trick children into coming here through the promise of their desires then you turn them into statues?!"

"You gotta admit, they make the most adorable garden gnomes." Alondra said "Any who, I think it's about time we finally settle things once and for all and what better way to make you suffering so much more delightful then by adding the lives of your believers? Too bad toothy had to miss out, but she's a tad stiff at the moment. Stone cold stiff that is."

"I knew you were crazy before, but now I think you've gone completely wacko!" Bunny said angrily "Release our friends or else!"

"You wouldn't dare strike me, not as long as I have them under my power." Alondra said "Unless you want to risk losing them for all eternity."

The guardians looked at Alondra and at the Bennett children. As much as they want to clobber her, they don't want to risk anything bad happening to the children they care about. North took a step forward and said "We do not want any harm coming to these children, but we will never let them suffer under your power!"

"Then how about we settle this over a game?" Alondra asked "If you win and somehow manage to overcome my all powerful curse, then everything will be back to the way it was before. But if you fail, then I will have a whole entire set of guardians to add to my stone collection. The choice is yours, that is if your brave enough for it."

"One on condition, once we win, you will return the power you stole to the stone." Jack said "And you will be stripped of so much of your power you'll become nothing but a bug."

"Heh, and if you lose?" Alondra asked the spirit of fun with a grin on her face.

"If we lose and you win..." Jack took a deep breath and said "Then not only will we become part of your statue creation but you will have all the powers of the Guardians in the palm of your hands!"

"WHAT?! Jack, are you crazy!?" Bunny asked as Sandy's golden sand created an exclamation point over his head.

"Challenge accepted!" Alondra said "I already have Toothy's power at my disposal so earning the rest of yours will be a piece of cake! Oh... and is that the little cowardly imp I see?"

Cleo, who had been struck speechless the whole time, whimpered as she clung to Jack and the ice spirit said "This is not a cowardly imp, this is Cleo, the Spirit of Courage!"

"Spirit of courage?! Ha! More like Spirit of Bed Wetters to me!" Alondra scoffed "She's not even worth draining. So, do we have a deal or not?"

"Just get on with it." Jack snarled in anger.

"Fine, hope you like Nightmare town, Population, you guys!" Alondra said.

Cleo watched as she clung on to Jack tighter then before, watching the dark fairy cast her spell and then... blackout.


End file.
